Chimps and Chumps

It’s been more than a week since we’ve gotten wet the last time. The end of May is fast approaching and the temperature is rising steadily as we make our way downhill to Kigoma. We – the almighty weather gods – therefore pronounce the rainy season as “over”. Knock on wood. We have a suspicion that we might miss our daily downpour at some point.

A few days ago, while poring over our maps, we found a national park close to the Burundian border where you can make friends with chimpanzees that know Jane Goodall. Gombe Stream NP is where she used to research our closest genetic relative starting in 1960. Apparently she still visits the park twice a year, quite sprightly for a 91 year old.

We thought the fact that these are basically celebrity chimps would render a trip to visit them unaffordable for two poor schmucks like us. But we’re in luck. We can even stay a night in a “luxury” safari tent with exclusive beach access. Apparently the tent is so close to the water that it floods frequently. But we take our chances.

The trip thither can only be made by boat. We pay the captain a day in advance so he has enough money to buy fuel, oil and alcohol. After a two hour ride, we step ashore, sign in with the park staff and head out immediately for our first chimp treck.

Our guides Abbas and Amos explain that there are three societies in the park with about 50 individuals each. Only one of them – the society Jane Goodall studied – does not run away at the sight of naked apes. On this first afternoon we watch Sheldon – the oldest male (49 years old) – as he looks for food. We marvel at the similarities between us, especially the hands and eyes. Sheldon basically looks like a slightly hairier human grandpa.

The next morning we head out again – after evicting a band of baboons from our porch (which didn’t flood, though it was touch and go there for a while). This time we chase a mother chimp and her daughters through the thick underbrush for two hours while wearing face masks. This little Covid flashback is necessary as we can easily transmit all human diseases to chimps and their immune systems can’t really cope.

Sweaty as hell but with huge smiles we get back on the boat and return to Kigoma. We take an additional day off – something we’ve gotten more comfortable doing – and gorge ourselves on fresh juice and shiver in the air conditioned room. Ben is rejected by a couple of hairdressers before one is brave enough to try and cut white people’s hair. The emphasis is on “try”. After running the clippers futilely in the direction of the hair for a while he cuts it way too short and Ben has to step in a ask to use the clippers and scissors to fix it himself (a skill picked up in the pandemic).

We spend some time chatting with a couple of Germans who are driving their beautiful Land Rover from Namibia to Kenya. We’re slightly envious of their portable fridge and ready-made meals. They are also kind enough to donate some shower gel to our cause, as this is hard to come by in Tanzania for some reason.

Before we start the next stretch of the journey we are forced to mourn a death in the equipment family. The guard dogs found and mauled our cycling gloves. This is why you should never wash anything. But now we’re really getting into the DIY Africa spirit by buying some gardening gloves and cutting the fingers off.

With sweaty palms we start heading south on a 160km stretch of dirt road. While the busses dip in and out of the deep potholes, tilting precariously to the side, we weave around them easily. For once there are few people around and we relish the freedom. It’s definitely worth having to carry double the amount of water for this peace.

We celebrate the first couple of wild camping spots, one in a field surrounded by cacti and cow poop, another on top of a roaring waterfall with a ton of flies for company. It always feels more adventurous when we can look out at a million stars at night and wake up with the sunrise.

Civilization is never far though and after three short days we’re back on asphalt and in a bigger bustling town. At least we can get more fresh juice and another round of air conditioning sniffles.