This was quite exciting. We left at 4:30 in the morning to arrive at 6am, when dawn breaks, at the area in the forest where the chimps live. Upon arrival, our guide contacted the chimp trackers (staff of the nature reserve) to find out exactly which tree the chimps chose this morning as their breakfast table. We then started to make our way in that direction. About and hour’s walk in to the forest, we met with a tracker and was asked to stay put and be quiet for a while so that we can listen to the chimp’s call in order to find their precise location. We waited for about 5 min and then heard the first soft cry of the chimps which got loader and loader until it felt like they were on top of us. Quickly, the tracker started bashing straight down the steep slope, cutting away vegetation with his machete, and then motioned towards us to follow. We weren’t prompted to, but naturally all kept quiet as we stumbled in his tracks. A few minutes’ bundu-bashing and we came to a halt as right in front of us, about 20m away, 3 big chimps were feasting on fruit and leaves high in a tree. We all made ourselves comfortable on the twigs and bushes, took out our cameras and stared at the apes for the hour that we were allowed. Every now and again they would start calling again. The guide explained that they are calling the rest of their group to come and eat, but we reckoned that they were calling their friends to come and look at the muzungo (white people).The whole experience was one of those once in a lifetime ones, definitely worth seeing the chimps in their natural environment. And definitely a highlight of my trip.
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