Gombe Stream National Park

Fifty years ago the famed paleontologist Louis Leakey sent his assistant, Jane Goodall to a remote area in Tanzania. He encouraged her capacity to observe the chimpanzee population with fresh eyes, not yet burdened with science. It was then that Jane commenced her work with the Chimps at Gombe Stream, where she would advance research on, and create relationships with the primate whose DNA most closely resembles humankind.

Through her diligent work and familiarity with this forest and its habitants, Jane has developed an extraordinary grasp of the interconnectivity of people, animals and environment. Goodall’s study of the ‘shadow of man,’ the relation of predecessor with descendant, developed into an increasing foresight regarding the future. Dr. Goodall has committed herself to becoming the spokesperson for our predecessors, and our children. She travels 300 days a year, giving talks and initiating programs (Roots and Shoots among others) which foster guardianship in children; for people, animals and the environment. Gombe Stream is now a National Park, where researchers still observe and protect the 106 Chimpanzees that reside within its forest.

If you travel by boat from Kigoma in two hours you will reach the rocky shore and white-sanded beach that is the entrance to Gombe Stream. Jane’s house is still there, untouched since the 70s when it was built, simple and sturdy. It is modest, as is the Park’s resthouses; small bandas with grated windows to keep baboons out. You don’t need much; it is paradisiacal on the shore of Lake Tanganyika, the beach met by thick, rich forest that rises into lush hillside. The friendly guides take visitors into the forest, communicating with trackers by radio; they strive to give you a marked chimp experience.
Like most who visit, my encounter was rife with close contact.

Along this great waters edge
I walk the rocky shore,
All shades and shapes of stone
worn smooth with time,
the constant crashing of waves,
the sun and moon rotations,
imprint the eternal present
on this lakeshore.
The forest extends to the water.
Green woodland, white stone, blue lake
I step onto the earthen pathway and
all thoughts are left behind
this kingdom extends beyond the mind
saturating my perception
with the fecundity of wet earth
morning’s dew and sunshine on foliage.
Decaying leaves blanket the ground in hues of dusky brown
littered with fallen flowers of pristine white
as though some child scattered them with delight
so the butterflies flit and whirl, quiver and dart
with flawless lightness of being
calling me to do the same.
A close relative to our kind lets out a few cries
then arrives on the path on all fours
and swaggers to a nearby tree
reaching around the soft white bark
with five long fingers
not too different from my own
He climbs to the highest limbs
where the morning sunlight can bask him
sitting quietly in lotus pose
chewing leaves,
picking them off like grapes from the vine.
Time does not exist now
it is perpetual morning;
simple filling of hunger,
the warmth of sun following night.
And when he is satisfied
he propels along the canopy top
a black shadow of swift movement
bringing sticks, leaves and his excreta earthbound
Then he is here again,
sitting in a tree at eye level
as though getting some amusement from the shock
of his waste on my clothes.
We lock eyes,
historical time fuses
and then he is gone
only his scent remains
Arousing my senses;
the morning forest
perfumed so sweetly with dew, damp soil, decay,
Life
So strangely familiar are these smells that seemingly
cocoon me.
the womb of my mother?
Or perhaps the memory of our forest predecessors
still singing from my bones.