While there is always something of interest to make our forest visits worthwhile, I am ultimately here for the chimpanzees and it is these that I most want to see. Having seen only brief glimpses of the rear-ends of chimpanzees as they hurriedly move out of sight for almost two weeks now frustration is starting to set in.
Since last Saturday we have searched high and low in nearly every inch of our study site, covering many miles each day in the hunt for our ever-elusive study subjects. In our attempts to catch up with the chimpanzees we have run through savannah, scrambled up hills and pushed through thorn-laden thicket, but we have always found ourselves hot, sweaty and heavily scratched but no closer to our targets.
There are some days when, if I didn’t know better, I would think that the chimpanzees are deliberately tormenting us for their enjoyment. For instance there was the day when we had just stopped for a much needed rest and food break at the top of the huge hill that we had spent most of the morning climbing. We sat enjoying the rest and the stunning view and were just about to start on the food, much to my delight as my stomach was growling with hunger.
Just as we had got the chapatti-filled lunchbox out some leaves rustled in the valley below. Out came the binoculars, and after several minutes of observation I thought I saw the human-like hand of a chimpanzee emerge from behind some branches and grab a piece of fruit. Putting the untouched food away we got to our feet and raced down the valley towards where we thought the chimpanzee would be. We arrived just in time to see it disappear into dense vegetation.
It seems for now that I am going to have to make do with infrequent glimpses of chimpanzee arses. Whilst any sighting is good and even the arse-end of a chimpanzee is of interest, I hope that we will get some more substantial sightings soon!
Written on Friday 30th July
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