Central Division

I got up at the ungodly hour of 4.30am to start the journey to the chimpanzee trek with four of my fellow travellers. We arrived at the the forest about two and a half hours later where we would be searching for chimpanzees. The van parked up and we received a debriefing from the park guide. We put on our waterproofs and walked deep into dense tropical rain forest which was an amazing experience in itself with bird calls and insect sounds all around. After only about 20 minutes trekking through the wet lush forest, the guide stopped and pointed forwards - just ahead of us on the path was a large chimp walking slowly away - I was moved to tears by this simple primal scene - we continued walking forward and saw the chimpanzee again, and again he moved on. Then the guide took us off the main path and into the forest - we saw another chimpanzee way up and moving through the trees. He/she then climbed down the tree and moved off not far from us. Then the guide, who was being helped by other guides, took us to a spot where there was a fantastic view of a large older male chimpanzee, (named George by the park wardens) relaxing langorously in the tree above - I got some wonderful photos and video of him. Then another guide directed us to where there was a female chimp with her young - again I got some wonderful footage of the young chimp moving through the trees back towards his/her mother. We saw other chimpanzees sitting and moving through the trees high above us. Finally we spent some more time watching the young chimp resting in branches at the edge of tree - seeing his small feet and hands moving and scratching was beautiful. Overall, we spent about two hours with the chimpanzees which felt like such a privilege and something I found deeply moving and affecting - the scene felt so primal and eternal. Occasionally, the chimpanzees would look down at us curiously before returning to their rest. The guide said that the chimpanzees feed from 6am and then rest between 9-10am which is when we saw them. Eventually, we moved on leaving the chimpanzees to their lives. The guide showed us certain trees including a fig tree which is the chimpanzees favourite to eat. He also showed us a tree name? with fascinating shaped nuts. He also showed me the dominant tree name? of the rainforest. On our return to the starting point we walked through beautiful green rainforest and saw black and white colabus monkeys and I was again able to get some lovely footage. We left the forest and returned to the van through a tea plantation where the workers looked at us curiously and waved at us shyly. I felt extremely lucky to have experienced wild chimpanzees at such close quarters - an unforgettable experience.Read more