Chimping Around
We had a wonderful day in the forest with another chimp sighting. It was late afternoon and we were searching for green nests because we hadn’t heard anything in the morning… when suddenly we heard chimps calling very close by, it seemed like we had just passed them. We headed in the direction of their calls and came across some recent poop which we scooped up into a tube. Then we continued walking along the hillside. Suddenly we saw a lone chimp, he looked at us and continued walking towards the hilltop, towards that tangled mass of lianas. I clambered up the hill top, slowly … bipedally, if only I could comfortably walk quadrupedally like chimps. As I reached the top and stared at what I thought to be a lump of rock in the distance, it suddenly moved and became a chimp! He charged at me and I was rather afraid… but luckily it was just a bluff and he calmed down and then returned my gaze. After some time he even calmed down enough to rest supine on some vines… ahh these moments.
Chimpanzee Researcher, Josephine Nadejda
