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Published: August 31st 2006
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The spirit of the chimps and jane goodall i did not feel until we walked about ten minutes into the forest, i was so upset over the bearacracy of the park. it is so badly runned and the visitors get no respect at all, unless of course you spend thousands of dollars there. anyway, the first day it was just us and a dutch couple. i hate to admit this, but i think its how the universe wanted it and its how life was before cameras, but i brought my video and the charger but i forgot the converter, so i have no video of my experiences. i will tell you what i wrote in the forest though. there are three communities, five families in each community and about 6 in each family. there are total 150 chimps in gombe. after fifteen minutes of walking, we found two chimps grooming on a path. the embrace was so slow. then the large chimp climbed up a large palm tree and stayed there hidden from us for a long while. we waited for him, but meanwhile looked farther along the path and saw a chimp sitting, respectfully, on a log beside the path. the one in the distance, and by this i mean about 14 meters. he stood up and it was such a shock to me that i fell off of the small rock i was sitting on. i saw all of evolution in one moment. he then walked on all fours off into the distance. so nat and me and our guide, who knew absolutely nothing, the dutch couple and their guide and four researchers. we werent actuially tracking the chimps, the "guide" simply listens to his radio and when the researchers see chimps they radio us. anyway, we waited while the large male about 35 years old munched on palm nuts, or at least thats what we assumed he was doing. the researchers told us in swahili about the chimps use of medicinal plants, they use for instance saba florida fruit for muscle relaxation. but then there was a loud noise in the tree. lots of screaming, sounds i curse myself for not being able to record, though i will never forget. two chimps run down the tree quickly, biting the head of a baby baboon. i made eye contact as one animal with a face like mine bit into another face that looked sortof like mine. i cant describe the fear as these huge animals ran right past us, coming into ten feet of me. they simply went up the path a bit and sat down to feast. they kept their backs to us, but we heard the sounds of bones breaking. gruesome, quite tragedy, thinking little but still thinking of the baboon mother that must be in the tree. one more chimp came out of nowhere, a small one, and went to join them. every now and then the one feasting the most would turn its head to check us out, holding this small limp body in its hand. they apparently do this only in really aggresive moments or when there is a serious lack of fruit. the smaller one stayed and ate leaves while the older two shared with one another and moved forward. we follow. they went up a msebei tree.i saw sold that the one that killed was named gimble, though the guide was so bad that he kept changing the names and ages and knew little about the chimps, which was really sad for me because i had so many questions. anyway, in this sunny tree with very few leaves (lucky for us because we could see them so clearly), we stayed just under the tree. they made loud calls (ho to screetch and the in-out-in-out-in-out hooo hooo hooos) they united in this tree in one spot in case the baboon would come for revenge. we heard jump and thud, they jump so deliberately in the tree and dont seem to mindus at all. we were totally absorbed in their lives, caught in the middle of a spectacular event of sharing baby baboon limbs and fighting over it. some gimble would share with but others not. small ones came from no where and clumsily climbed up the tree. the small ones dont climb down the trees, they put their arms around them and slide. like a firepole in a childrens park. a mom with a baby climed up, her name is fanny. fabian was the one year old baby. followed by fundi and four year old. they were rather quite other than when there was disagreements. now there were 3 big ones and 3 small cones. the big ones gather together as if discussing something and the little ones are kicked away to the outer branches of the tree. it took them a long time to eat the baboon. i will continue from here from my journal another time. now nat and i dont feel so well and my internet hour is over. i think i will see a doctor in the morning if i get worse, but i think its from the long boat ride wihich was really smelly and hot and crowded and the waves made me feel a bit sick because i was so tired. also we arent drinking enough water. so anyway, wish me good health is all i ask. and i will take better care now.
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