Mahale part 2

The second day at Mahale we awoke to nice weather, a hearty breakfast, and the unfortunate news that the chimps had moved south to an area that was difficult for people access and also heavily infested with Buffalo Beans. These are a vine whose beans have small hair like fibers which “stick” to skin on contact or when they are dispersed by the wind. These fibers are small enough to penetrate most clothing and when they contact skin they slightly penetrate the skin, swell due to the moisture there which anchors them in the skin, and then cause an itching sensation. It is supposed to be very aggravating and last for several days. Interestingly the chimps do not seem to be affected by them at all, maybe because their skin is tougher and thicker than ours is. With that description and the chimps’ location, we decided not to pursue the chimps that morning and to hope that they would move to another location later in the day for a possible chance to see them in the afternoon.

Instead we decided to take the morning and have a nature walk to a nearby stream with a small (10 foot) waterfall at the base of which was a natural swimming pool. Along the way we learned about various jungle flora and saw a few birds and some monkeys. The latter are generally wary of people whom they associate with chimps, either because we are also primates or because people are occasionally seen with chimps and because the chimps actively hunt and eat the monkeys. I have to say it is a little uncomfortable to think that the chimps eat monkeys (and obviously raw since they don’t use fire at all), but it is even more uncomfortable to watch it on video which you can see at www.chimpanzee.tv a site promoting a video documentary about the Mahale chimps made by the camp’s former chef.

Upon reaching the stream we viewed some wonderful landscapes and had a nice swim. The water was cold, especially considering that we were only about 2 degrees south of the equator. It was very refreshing though, because the rain forest was hot and extremely humid.

That afternoon the chimps still hadn’t moved, so we took a boat ride about an hour south of the camp to a rocky beach off of which was an underwater rock “reef” teeming with fish. Lake Tanganyika is famous for its fish, most of which are endemic to the lake and have evolved into unique species due to the lake’s isolation, size, and particular chemical composition. In fact some species’ ranges are limited to only the rocks near the lakeshore in a few coves or bays, with similar but distinct species a few hundred yards away. The fish were especially interesting for me to see in the wild as I had studied the lake’s fish species as a child and so seeing them in the wild was special.

There was a moment of apprehension before jumping into the water with snorkel gear to see the fish though. On the way to the small cove we had seen several large crocodiles which inhabit the lake and whose range is not limited to just certain bays. To ensure the safety of the guests, the camp boat did a slow circle around the cove to make sure that no crocs were in the area where we would be swimming. That done and with none spotted, we were then free to don our snorkels and jump in.

The day ended with a glorious sunset after the boat ride back to camp and a lovely dinner followed by drinks next to a large campfire on the beach. We all went to sleep hoping that the chimps would move out of the buffalo bean area to somewhere accessible.

The next morning I awoke very early to darkness (I naturally don’t sleep much anyway) and walked out to the beach where I sat in a chair to watch the sun come up over the mountains. It was so incredibly peaceful and serene and a lovely way to start the day. The previous day I had startled some of the camp workers who weren’t expecting a guest on the beach before they were up with the sun. This day they were ready for me and we just nodded to each other as they went about their duties.

At breakfast we learned that the chimps’ location was unknown. Although the camp trackers had gone out early in the morning to try and locate them, mostly by listening for the calls and sounds the chimps make, they had not yet heard or seen any sign of them. This was very disappointing for everyone, but the decision was made to try and walk in the direction they were in the previous day in the hope that they might move back toward the camp and we would be well positioned to intercept them as they moved.

We started out walking along the trail network which has been built over the years mainly by the Japanese researchers studying this chimp group. After an hour of walking in the heat and humidity we came to a resting point where we met up with the camp trackers. They had taken up position at the top of a hill to listen and observe the surrounding forest with the hope of finding the chimps. Interestingly most of the tracking is done by sound rather than sight, with the trackers listening for the various calls the chimps make during different activities. Not only did the trackers have a good sense of hearing, but their ability to determine distance and the speed and direction of the chimps was amazing.

We rested a bit and tried to capture any cooling breeze that there was (very little) and after a bit the decision was made that the chimps were still too far away and not moving anywhere accessible. It was another disappointment for us, but they are wild animals after all and this isn’t a zoo experience (which some tourists seem to forget). Rather than walk back to camp on the trail we had just come on, we decided to hike along a more rugged trail to a beach on the lake and get picked up by the boat for the return. That was interesting, because we got to cross a minor river and see some hippo trails.

Lunch had a bit of a somber mood as we all began to wonder if we would see the chimps or not during our stay. News was relayed from the trackers that the chimps remained far south and in the bush. A suggestion was made to venture out and find them though since it wasn’t like there was much else for us to do. Magdalena warned us that the going would be tough since we would be going to an area that had no trails and that in fact hadn’t been visited by anyone in over 5 years. A few of the guests were dissuaded by that and decided to pass, but most of us were determined and agreed to go.

We landed the boat on the beach we had gone to that morning and began to walk inland. Within a hundred meters we encountered jungle and our guides took to using machetes to cut a path. The going was slow, as the forest was dense. A couple of hundred more meters and the ground angled upward too. We were at the base of a hill. We began to make our way upward following the trail the guides hacked through the growth. Progress ground to a slow pace, compounded by the heat, humidity, and often lack of plants to grab for better stability. We quickly learned that the prolific vines were not good to grab hold of either as they had numerous small thorns. So here were a group of mainly comfort-living tourists trudging uphill in the jungle being cut up by the plants and sweating profusely. I’ve got to admit I loved it. It reminded me of many of the hikes I did as a teenager back in Hawaii and was the first time in a long while that I was out in nature really exerting myself.

After about two hours we reached a plateau on the hill and took a break. Needless to say we were tired and reasonably dirty. It felt great. We had been joined by the trackers on the way up and now they were listening to the chimps who we could hear in the distance. A discussion broke out in Swahili amongst the trackers, guides and Magdalena. We waited and then she informed us that while the chimps were close, it was basically impossible for us to get to them. They were across a valley from us and our side of the valley was a near vertical drop of almost 100 meters, so to get to the other side we would have to go up and around the end of the valley. That would take well over an hour and at that point we would be about 2 hours from the nearest beach, meaning that we would have to hike out through jungle in the dark before riding the boat back. That would be a major safety issue for us, plus the official park rules were that no one was supposed to be outside the camp area after dark. The decision was made to turn around and go back to the beach we had come from, content in the fact that we had reached a point no tourist had ever visited and no one else had been to in several years. Though it was disappointing not to see the chimps, I was still happy all the way down the hill and back to camp. We only had one more day to go though…