monkey see? audrey go!

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we were up at 5 sunday morning. our mission: chimpanzee tracking. you have to get in early while the chimps are eating, because after they eat, they are off. and they are fast.

we made it to the edge of the forest about 7, after a hair-raising drive that truly made me appreciate once again the ridiculousness of having a 4 wheel drive in paramus, and waited to get word from the trackers.

primate tracking is very cool and these guys love and are great at their job. every morning trackers in the forest listen for, search for and follow a group of primates. they find them by listening for calls and looking for tracks and signs of their movement (for example, we saw evidence of where they had just eaten as we were going). sometimes they imitate the call to get a response (some species are more polite than others about responding). the trackers in the forest communicate back to guides from time to time by walkie-talkie as to their progress (i finally found the only place in rwanda where cell phones don't work).

after about 20 minutes we heard the chimps call. that's what we were waiting for. as there's no way to know where primates will decide to hang out, there are no set trails to find them. you just go where you need to go, and make the trail along the way. it's awesome! the lead has a machete, if necessary, to cut the way, but mostly you just climb over, under or around whatever's in the way. and i mean climb. rwanda is the "land of 1000 hills" and the forests are no exceptions.

we got on the trail of the chimps. this area wasn't too steep and getting there was pretty easy. seeing them would be the hard part. finally someone spotted some movement in the trees ahead and we stopped and waited. nothing. then some movement. "did you see it?? look there." "no. i just saw the leaves move". we waited some more and then walked on. we thought we would cut them off ahead. we reached another area and waited. then again, some movement off in the distance. "ah, did you see it? a big one!" "no." "there, in that tree!" (we're in a forest, mind you). so i looked at the tree and looked and looked. "there it is again. i saw the anus. did you see it?" "no." i kept my eyes peeled. i didn't blink. i didn't move. then, suddenly, a face. a yellow face. looking right at me. then, he was off. "i saw one! i saw one! i saw a yellow face. are the faces yellow??" "no." just kidding. they are! i saw a chimp!

but the trackers were frustrated and disappointed. the chimps were in front of us and we didn't see them! they were mortified. they wanted to make sure i went back satisfied. personally, i was elated. but a face wasn't enough. at that point the chimps were too elusive and too far ahead of us to continue tracking them. we got word that there was a big group of mangabey and blue monkies about 30 minutes away. lez go!

i think they meant 30 minutes by helicopter. we climbed and walked, climbed and climbed (i asked if we weren't in nepal). we slid and slipped, tripped and fell ("it's like skiing but not on ice"). we got smacked in the face with branches and fell into holes. we were filthy and sweaty, hungry and hot. it was a blast. i love my job.

when climbing thru unmarked, wet, forest mountain terrain, never underestimate the importance of your guide holding your hand. and he did not let go. between him holding my left and a walking stick in my right, i came out relatively unscathed. and i'm not sure, but i might actually be engaged in some societies.

after a treacherous horizontal "path" where you could barely stand it was so narrow, we found the managabey and blues just hanging out in the trees eating and playing. like my coworker said, it's like labor pains. it's torture to get there, but once you see them, you forget. it's true. we made some "chairs" out of leaves and just sat and watched and enjoyed.

my guides invited me back in august. "then you can watch the chimps like this, up in a tree eating." hey! i saw a FACE!

well, what does up must come down and we started the long, slide back.

in all, i saw 6 species of primates (and yes, i'm counting the chimp!). the others included mountain monkies, blue monkies, grey cheeked managabey, black and white colobus and baboons. i also saw beautiful birds, amazing wild orchids, waterfalls, and a beautiful, lush untouched forest.

next stop - the gorillas!

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