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Love Thy Neighbour [And Visit Them)
Tanzania: Gombe
Stream
National Park
By Ilse Mwanza
I had always wanted
to see chimpanzees in the wild. In Zambia we can see them at
Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage, a chimp sanctuary near Chingola, but
that is not the same as observing them in their home forests. And
so, while 'in the neighbourhood' so-to-speak, that is on the way
from Katavi National Park to Mwanza, 'my town' on the southern shore
of Lake Victoria, we decided to stop over in Kigoma and visit the
chimps at Gombe Stream.
Gombe
Stream
National Park has become very famous through Jane Goodall's
research. She has lived and worked in this park from the 1960s
onwards, becoming an activist on matters chimpanzee in the process.
Jane has come to Zambia several times, not only to visit Chimfunshi
but also to increase people's awareness of conservation concerns. I
had met her a couple of times and was therefore very keen to see the
park where she lived and worked; and where she had discovered
amazing human-like behaviours (like using tools, waging wars, caring
for and grieving over loved ones, etc) in our closest relatives.
It is neither easy
nor cheap to get to Gombe Stream. This park is only accessible by
water, which means one has to hire a boat ($100 pp) to be taken to
the park entrance, a ride of about two hours from Kigoma beach. The
park fee is another $100 per person, plus there is a compulsory
guide fee of $10 (which does not go to the guide but to park HQ -
the guide still has to be tipped). Most hotels in Kigoma arrange for
the boat ride, or at least they claim they do. In reality one of
their staff members runs off to a relative with access to a fishing
boat and hopes that this person is free to take tourists. We were
unlucky. At the appointed time, early in the morning of the
chimp-visiting day, no boat or guide appeared. "Ahhh hmmm, sorry, I
was unable to find someone with a boat", said the receptionist who
had promised "no problem" to get us a boat. Luckily there were some
other tourists with space in their boat who took us along.
After reaching the
park entrance, and having been relieved of the compulsory $110, we
sat and waited for the guide. And so did 46 other tourists. Some of
these had spent the night at Gombe Stream HQ and had 'cornered' all
English-speaking guides. We ended up with an elderly person who
spoke no English, only Swahili, and used sign language to show us
the way. For four hours he led us up and down mountain trails,
occasionally indicating we sit down while listening for chimp calls
(termed 'pant-hoots' by Goodall), without ever once managing to get
near. Twice we saw fleeting black shadows make off into the
distance, once we saw a mother with two children move in between
trees, but that was all. The up-and-down trails were strenuous, even
for fit people. We'd never sweated so much in our lives, drenched to
the last fibre of clothing. We were quite disappointed and
considered the effort (and money) wasted. I strongly recommend a
visit to Chimfunshi instead - it's easier and cheaper and certainly
more educational.
To get to Gombe
Stream National Park by road is not easy. The road from Mpanda to
Uvinza was chosen by Getaway Magazine as one of "Africa's Worst
Roads". (Getaway, July 2003) Don Pinnock, Getaway author and
traveler, writes: "the 300 km road to Kigoma, the town of which
Ujiji is now a suburb, quite rightly has the reputation of a hell
run. On the other hand, it's a 4x4 enthusiast's dream - rock
climbing, sand scrambling, giant holes and narrow tracks between
gaping, flood-scoured gullies." Don did not exaggerate. It took us
two days of hard (11-hours per day) driving to reach Uvinza. I
limped into town with a fuel-tank punctured in three places, on the
last whiff of diesel. Emergency repairs over, we proceeded to Kigoma.
Western Tanzania is
full of refugee camps. We passed one after the other after the
other, all along Lake Tanganyika's eastern shore. We were allowed
entry into one, Mishamo, where we 'nighted' in the worst guesthouse
ever. No water, no light, no food, dirty beds full of lice, grubby
floors full of roaches, and not a caretaker in sight. We stayed
there because we had no option - we had to find a place for the
night on the two-day 'hell run'. We had been warned against camping
in the bush because of 'bandits in the hills' - refugees who could
not find space in the many camps - and anyway it was late in the
day, already dark. Luckily, the full horror of the place was only
revealed the next day when it got light and I awoke, itching with
flea-bites.
From Uvinza to
Kigoma the road was easy. "Kigoma is a wonderful place, friendly,
bustling with trade and perched on the beautiful, sparkling
lakeshore", writes Don in Getaway. He made the mistake of staying at
the grand Kigoma Hilltop Hotel, which is expensive ($100-150
single/double) and unfriendly. We stayed at Lake Tanganyika Beach
Hotel instead, which is less grand, less costly ($12-15), and more
friendly. Alas, it was so friendly that it promised what it couldn't
keep: to provide transport to Gombe Stream. Other known populations
of wild chimps are in the Mahale Mountains, where access is even
more difficult and the trails steeper than at Gombe Stream. The
hotel promises to organise transport to these too.
While in Kigoma we
of course had to visit Ujiji, the town of the famous
Stanley-Livingstone meeting. To quote Pinnock again: "There are
several versions of what must be one of the world's most historic
handshakes, but Govola Mbinga, the guide at the place where Henry
Morton Stanley met Livingstone, tells it best:
"Yivingstone he
neary dead man when one he come running crying: 'Hear come Yingrish
mzungu!' Yivingstone he sit under big mango tree and Stanrey come he
say by Yivingstone: 'I presume'. Mmmm. Dey shakum hands. Shake,
shake. Dey meet like that umm. Stanrey try to persuade Yivingstone
to come to Europe mmm. But no, he would not go, nooooo. He go look
for Nileumm.' Livingstone had been lost to the rest of the world for
six years when journalist Stanley marched into Ujiji with a long
line of porters, a huge store of supplies and the Stars and Stripes
flying. He wasn't 'Yingrish', of course, but Welsh - reporting for
the New York Herald - and had just landed the scoop of a lifetime.
It was 10 November 1871. Today the meeting spot consists of an
unattractive stone plinth beneath two mango trees said to have been
grafted from the original which was cut down and sent to London."
We too enjoyed Mr Mbinga's description of the handshake in his
wonderful Swahili-Yingrish, word-perfect to Pinnock's account, after
pointedly having been asked to sit down and listen ($3 with museum
tour). Thereafter we were on our way to Mwanza and gameparks beyond
- Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, Usambara Mountains, Ruaha -
altogether an exciting two-month trip. |
December 2004