Sunday, Feb. 5 and Monday, Feb. 6
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania 
Epidemiologist Dominic Travis and I spent the past two days making the long journey from Chicago to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. We flew seven hours from Chicago to Amsterdam, where we had a four-hour layover, then flew another 10 hours to Dar es Salaam.
We arrived late Monday night, when our colleague Doug Cress, from the Pan African Sanctuary Alliance, informed us that our flight the next day would be moved up by four hours—departing at 9:30 a.m. This is typical of airline schedules in Africa, but luckily we had advance warning. After two long days of traveling, we settled into comfortable accommodations at Doug’s house and got some much needed rest.
Tuesday, Feb. 7
I was awakened at 4 a.m. this morning by the sound of the call to prayer from the mosque down the street. We made our morning flight and arrived in Kigoma around 1:30 p.m.
After lunch in town with Michael Wilson, the director of research for Gombe Stream Research Center, we ran some errands and hurried to meet the boat by 4 p.m. We set off on a choppy lake in the beautiful late-afternoon sunshine and arrived in Gombe just before sundown.
I unloaded our personal luggage while Dominic unpacked our lab equipment. He also proved that his Swahili was a bit rusty by greeting everyone with a cheerful “Good morning!” at 7 p.m.
Wednesday, Feb. 8
We headed into the field first thing this morning with project assistant Baraka, Gombe veterinarian Jane, and University of Minnesota graduate student Emily. The forest was very quiet, evidence there were not any chimpanzees nearby. Finally, around 11 a.m. we found two females, Jiffy and Sifa, and collected health data and samples from them.
We hiked on in search of other chimpanzees, but after two more hours of walking decided to return to camp. One of our tasks on this trip is to conduct a necropsy on Patti, a recently deceased chimpanzee. We spent the rest of the day preparing the lab for the procedure, which will likely take place on Friday. (Details from Dominic will soon follow.)
Thursday, Feb. 9
We had a wonderful morning with the chimpanzees. At 8 a.m. we found a large group including many of the individuals that I studied during my dissertation research—Gremlin and her twin daughters Golden and Glitter.
We also saw Frodo, who was ill in recent years but seems to have made a complete recovery. In the afternoon we returned to camp to complete preparations for the necropsy, which will take place tomorrow morning. We also worked with veterinarian Jane Raphael on checking the datasheets for our health-monitoring project.
After our office work, we retired to the house only to find a python that appears to be living in the woodpile behind where we stay.
Friday, Feb. 10
We spent the morning performing a postmortem examination on a chimpanzee named Patti. I followed Patti quite a bit during my dissertation research, so this was emotional for me. However, her surviving kids are healthy and strong, so that made me feel much better.
After the Patti procedure, we went to the northern part of the park to meet with the Tanzanian staff about our health-monitoring project. We introduced them to the new datasheet format and discussed the project’s status. These types of meetings are crucial to keeping the project running smoothly.
After a very long day we were invited to socialize with the park’s chief warden, with whom we watched the sun set over Lake Tanganyika.
Saturday, Feb. 11
What a wonderful morning—we saw forty chimpanzees in one hour! The first we came upon was Fudge, who we heard before we actually saw. He had lost track of his mother in the forest and was crying while looking for her. Shortly afterwards we saw the family reunion as his mom called out and he rushed to rejoin her. It was amazing.
We soon realized that Fudge and his family were part of a very large group that was moving from south to north through the valleys. We climbed through dense foliage to catch up with them and then spent a little under an hour watching the chimpanzees rest, groom and play. Two of our project’s sample-collectors were with us, so we were able to review procedures with them and learn about the youngsters born since our last visit.
This afternoon was spent in the office, meeting with the project veterinarian and finalizing plans for the next few months. Tomorrow we are heading back into town for meetings, so I’m off to pack and hopefully enjoy my last sunset at Gombe for the next few months.
Sunday, Feb. 12
As often happens in Africa, our plans changed at the last moment. Last night we watched the sun set over the Lake Tanganyika and got mentally prepared for leaving Gombe this morning in order to meet with a colleague. But as we were saying goodbye to our peers, in walks the colleague we were supposed to meet in town. So instead of leaving Gombe we stayed in the park and held our meetings here.
We had hoped to see chimps this afternoon after our meetings, but it has been raining hard all day, which makes it very difficult to find chimps because you can't see well and you can’t hear their calls over the sound of raindrops splashing in the forest. So we’re staying inside and planning the next stages of our health project.
In theory, we are heading into town tomorrow morning to catch our flight back to the city, but in Africa, you never know. |
