Did you know that female chimps initiate sex with the males? The female see a male with an erection and in five seconds or so the job is done, the female is off to find another erection and the male is left to tidy himself with some leaves. Chimps do things differently than gorillas or baboons. Females mate with any and all males and female juveniles move off to other groups to avoid incest. Male babies are still at extreme risk but female babies are welcomed. We saw this, and more, on our day-long habituation trek with Toti’s group of chimps. All hail Toti – on the left, to the right is Black. Toti is magnificent, the undisputed boss of his 200-member group.
Here in Kibale chimps have been habituated since 1992 and tracking them all day is good for their continued habituation. Jared, our Bantu guide, has been with the chimps since the park was gazetted and prior to that he hunted food in the forest. There is little he doesn’t know. The three of us, me, Jim and Lisa from Portland Maine, are lucky to have him. Jared cautions us that Toti can get physical. We aren’t allowed to get more than 20 meters from the chimps but no one tells the chimps how close they can get to us – as we will find out.
It is bright and clear at 6:30am and if nothing else, it’s an excellent walk in the woods. Soon we meet the first few chimps of the tribe. From the tree tops where they built their nightly nests, they come down to relax, groom and socialize. Almost instantly we are surrounded – not by chimps but by other chimp watchers – at least 18 people plus their guides and guards. What have we gotten into? The mad rush to photograph every chimp makes for a mob scene and one by one we back off to the perimeter with Jared. It is astonishing that the chimps don’t mind the mob. These people only have one hour with the chimps, similar to gorilla trekking. An hour with chimps is not like an hour in church – the chimp hour goes much faster.
Jared motions us to follow him – “let’s track this cool guy” he says of Black, one of the mature males. Presently we leave all the other people behind and it is just us and the chimps and the forest. Black climbs a tree – how does a creature that big sit on such a tiny branch? – and begins calling to his friends. Chimps have 52 vocalizations, all of them are loud and wild. Some calls appear obvious such as when the small male left behind began crying loudly, like a kid lost in the mall. He was quickly answered by the tribe and found his way to them. Black’s calls attract a female, the two mate and then, just as Jared predicted, the others show up. We sit down in their mids
t and watch them play and groom and we all converse about evolution, fidelity, chimps and humans. Why not, we have enough vocalization for that.
But Toti wants some action and he rouses the others into a frenzy by rushing about and hooting. Other chimps join him, surrounding us, then Toti leads a charge right at the four of us. Now what did Jared say to do when this happens? Oh, yeah, stand up and stand still. But this puffed-up primate is hurling himself at us as fast as he can – which is pretty f’n fast – and it is all we can do to breath. Toti swings past Jim and slaps him on the thigh, the rest of the chimps rush past and we all take a breath. “He is just showing off” Jared says. It was deeply impressive, especi
ally when Toti did it again, this time slapping Lisa. I was starting to feel left out. Jim said he’d show me how it felt but it’s not the same thing.
As the day goes on rain starts bucketing down. The chimps go into another frenzy, howling and screaming. They don’t care for the rain (yes, they live in a rain forest, but many people who live in snow don’t like it, right?) We try to wait it out but it is clear that we have no chance, we are soaked and the chimps are in hiding. The trail is a river of mud. Time to declare the habituation over. On the way out, slogging through rain and the wet mud we meet the last group of hourly visitors, just starting out for the chimps. Hope they had a good time. We certa
inly did. If you go, do the all-day habituation. You will not be disappointed.
Nyungwe Forest, near the southwest corner of Rwanda, is one of the oldest forests in Africa, if not the oldest. For hundreds of thousands of years, minute by minute, day after day, the process of photosynthesis from the Nyungwe has spewed oxygen into the earth’s atmosphere – we should all be thankful. 
Remarkably, Nyungwe is generally intact, still in pristine condition. There are threats of course, illegal logging, poaching, and the like, as explained by the brilliant modern interpretive center at the main campground. Still this forest has survived any number of climate changes and if Homo Sapiens can be kept at bay, there’s a good chance for continued success. We need the oxygen. At any rate, we came to experience the deep green scenery and the primates. Heavy black cloud unleash great buckets of rain on us as we arrange camping. There are beautifully built teak shelters and we can back the Beagle right up to the shelter for cooking and relaxing. The view is stunning, the horizon full of forest stretching on and on, green and thick and unlike anything we have seen so far in Africa. Rwanda is full of surprises.
To walk anywhere in Nyungwe you must have a guide. Trails are variously strenuous, all are steep and slick with rain. I know I’d have to watch my step on a guided hike – to look up or around is to ensure a fall. We elect to hang around and see what happens instead of hiking. Monkeys visit us every morning, calmly walking around the truck checking for edibles and the bright yellow bananas on the dashboard attract attention. Other than that, we must seem pretty boring to them. They are anything but boring to me. Their colorful fur and big eyes, their little fingers and long toes; I find them endlessly entertaining. L’Hoest monkeys, blue monkeys, black and white colobus, all are found here. Not one of them bares their teeth at me and tries to steal lunch as happened in Botswana – I heaved the box
of flatware at that one, I was hungry and not about to share. We don’t share anything with these fine primates either but they don’t care. There is plenty of food in the forest for them. Humans would starve in these woods – the trees keep all the nutrients for themselves and there is little forage for human taste. Could be that is why this place is still so fresh and vital. Chimpanzees live here too and a guide can take you to look for them. No guarantees though, you may or may not see these wonderful creatures. Chimps in the wild are shocking – if you’ve only seen them on TV, you’ll be aghast at how powerful they are as they move about their own environment. We spot two of them on the road as we leave the park; they quietly move off into the trees and I’m glad for that, I would not want a chimp to be hit by a truck.
Nyungwe is the last park we visit in Rwanda. As we leave, I think that Rwanda fits perfectly the pattern I’ve noticed in African countries. That is: nothing is what it seems. Rwanda is practically litter-free, has marvelous roads, beautiful parks, solemn memorials (all over the country), good hospitality service – all the things a tourist would compliment. On the other hand, it is run by a heavy-handed dictator, Paul Kagama, who has been in power for 23 years. Many praise his positive achievements but of course there is a dark side. Opposition leaders tend to disappear. Militias in Congo are armed with Rwandan weaponry and they facilitate the theft of Congo’s resources by Rwanda, who then sell it to the west. To be fair, Uganda (run by another brutal dictator) and other countries are also robbing Congo – there is plenty to go around there for now. Where will it
all end? Will Rwandans really recover from the genocide? Have free elections? We cannot know. It is time to enter Uganda and the Katuna border crossing is ahead of us. We’ll see what happens there.
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