Gombe sometimes feels like those gift packages where you can tell which month it is by which fruit you receive in the mail. Following chimpanzees here means that you’re also following whatever fruit is ripe at the time. As the seasons change, the chimpanzees switch to a different fruit as their main food. When I arrived in November, it was mostly mabungo makubwa. Right now, we’re nearing the end of the budyakende, shown in the photo below.

They’re yellow-orange when ripe and quite delicious. Unfortunately, the edible part is small and mostly water, which tends to decrease party size for the chimpanzees. They stay in smaller groups, and females in particular spread out to make sure they can get enough food for themselves. This can make finding individuals frustrating; there are days when Amri and I have searched for over 10 hours without hearing a single call.

In addition to impacting the size of the parties, the abundance of specific fruits in certain valleys draws more individuals to these parts of the park. For instance, the chimpanzees would practically race through Kidihi Valley during the long rains because it lacked food to hold their interest. Now, with budyakende having ripened, they’ll stay for hours at a time, foraging and moving quickly to the next patch when they can’t find any more.

Unfortunately, my targets spending more time in Kidihi also means I have to contend with vines that have far more thorns than those of other valleys. Budyakende has come to be synonymous in my mind with needing Neosporin when I get home! But soon enough, a new fruit will ripen, and I’ll have a whole different set of obstacles to grapple with. I can only hope they’ll be a little less painful!

Emma Lantz