Chimpanzees! Up close and personal!!
Trip Start
Jul 23, 2010
1
64
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Trip End
Apr 17, 2011
Kibale, Kibale, Uganda
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Our ranger guide, Ronald, was a great tracker. He and the other three ranger guides communicated to each other by radio as they spotted recent signs of chimpanzee activity. He was good to point out to us what he saw as we trekked through the forest. It was a good hike, and Jim did really well with the terrain.
We were rewarded with up close and personal views of lots of chimps, mainly in the process of grooming each other (essentially de-ticking each other's hair). We also saw some communication activity, as the group we were with started responding to another group calling from a distance.
Did you know that chimps and humans share 98.7% of genes, while gorillas and humans share 97.7%?
Ronald was able to tell us the name and approximate age of each chimp we were watching, as they spend a lot of time tracking them. It was amazing that the chimps weren’t really bothered by us, at least most of the time. There was an eastern European man that kept encroaching on the chimps and was pretty good at playing dumb and ignoring the ranger, who finally had to threaten to pull him out of the trek altogether. The fact that the ranger had a rifle along may have helped convince him!!!
Our afternoon was relaxing; we passed up an opportunity to take a swamp walk to give Jim’s ankles a rest after the morning hike. Our upcoming gorilla trek early next week will be more physically demanding, so we’re pretty focused on staying in good condition for that event.
Before dinner, we were entertained by a local group of women performing local dances. We enjoyed a lovely dinner… the food at this lodge was exceptional!
