Face to face with our closest living relative PART 2 by @DannysTravels
Read Part 1 here
HEROES
Primatologist Jane Goodall is one of a number of people that have influenced my life. In the 60’s as a young girl she went off to Tanzania to study Chimpanzees. Her sense of adventure and complete dedication to wildlife is a big inspiration.
Yesterday, I also talked about Sheila Siddle who started Chimfunshi Chimpanzee Sanctuary. Little did I know, Jane and Shelia are good friends. In fact, Jane had rescued a chimpanzee from Asia many years ago that now lived in the sanctuary!
ESCAPE ARTISTS
The chimpanzee that Jane rescued was called Mila. Mila was once a bar entertainment pet who drunk and smoked with punters. Now in her elder years, Mila is healthy and living a more normal lifestyle at Chimfunshi. Mila has a cheeky personality and is one of four Chimpanzees who are known as the escape artists.
As the name suggests they were prone to escaping their enclosures and as cute as they are, chimpanzees can be extremely dangerous if not treated with respect. Therefore, they had been removed and placed into a smaller more secure enclosure where they can be rehabilitated.
MEET MILA
As a small compensation and to provide some mental stimulation for the escape artist Chimpanzees living in these smaller enclosures we were asked to create behavioural enrichment activities. This meant making them a selection of tasks and toys.
We planned our toys for hours to create something that would be impossible to break into, hiding pop-corn inside as a treat. Then we watched on in dismay as they destroyed the toys within seconds! Chimpanzees are four times stronger than human-beings and are just as intelligent. It was quite evident which chimps used their brain and which used the brawn.
BUSH WALK
As reward for all our hard work the volunteers and I were allowed to go on a bush walk with four other chimps that are completely used to humans, and therefore not a danger. As the chimps came out of their enclosures to join us in the bush it was a very surreal feeling, interacting with them on such a personal level.
The more time I spent with them the more I learned about their characters and moods (which were no different to yours or mine).
It was an encounter I would never forget.
MEET PAL
After 2 weeks of lending a helping hand to the chimpanzee sanctuary I had grown quite attached to them and was very comfortable living the basic life out in the bush with very little creature comforts.
I’m sure you can appreciate how refreshing it can be disconnecting for a while and not being consumed by the fast-paced electronic world that we live in today.
It dawned on me that the return two day dreaded bus journey was approaching very fast but first we had pleasure of seeing Pal – the first chimpanzee that Shelia nursed back to health – Pal was still living a healthy life with a family of up to 40 chimps.
THE FUTURE
It was testimony to Shelia and David who started this wonderful place out of nothing more than care for wildlife when I found out they had received an MBE from the Queen in 2001. What amazing recognition for an incredible lady.
I was off on my journey again back to Zimbabwe pondering my next adventure, but something was telling me I’d be back here again to see Mila.