Visiting our closest relatives

Genetically, a difference of only a couple of percent separates us from our closest relatives the chimpanzee, and Africa’s other great ape the gorilla. Of the two, we are actually closer related to the chimpanzee than the gorilla. The chimpanzee is the most temperamental of the two great apes - perhaps because it resembles us the most!

There are two species of chimpanzee, the common chimpanzee and the smaller bonobo (sometimes called the pygmy chimpanzee). The latter lives in central Africa in inaccessible terrain south of the River Congo. The common chimpanzee has a wider distribution north of the River Congo, from western Tanzania and Uganda, through Central Africa and as far as West Africa. This is the species you can visit in the wild in Uganda and a number of other countries such as Tanzania and Rwanda. Meeting them can be an incredible and moving experience, but purchasing a chimpanzee-trekking permit is expensive, and a gorilla trekking permit even more so.

The high prices are not simply due to the law of supply and demand. It is an extremely time consuming procedure requiring great patience to accustom wild great apes to the presence of people in their vicinity, as by nature they are very wary of humans.

It is unusual to meet chimpanzees or gorillas in the wild that have not been through a long process of habituation. This process involves local experts from the park seeking out the same family groups every single day of the year, and for a long period of time simply staying in the vicinity of the animals without seeing them. Much later, the local experts begin to “talk” with the apes, and can slowly establish eye contact with them and later close contact.

It is only when the animals are totally comfortable with this that the time is right to take a single “stranger” with them into the family group on a trial basis. Only once these visits are regularly accepted, can the park sell treks to visit the chimpanzee family group, but only one group of 6 - 8 people per day, spending a maximum of one hour together with the apes.

The time required for such a habituation process is typically 2 - 3 years for a single family group, over time and in tact with the increasing demand from visitors, the number of habituated groups increases, and at the same time the potential to monitor the chimps to protect them from potential poaching and other dangers, also increases.

The zoologist Jane Goodall’s ground breaking research work carried out over 50 years in the Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania, provided the fundamental knowledge needed to enable people to stay close to a group of chimpanzees without significantly disturbing their daily lives. Later her work, and advice from her and from the employees of the Jane Goodall Institute, has contributed to the study and protection of wild chimpanzees in a number of countries, and to nature conservation in general.

Zoologen Jane Goodall´s banebrydende forskningsarbejde, bl.a. gennem ca. 50 år i Gombe Stream National Park i Tanzania, har bl.a. dannet grundlag for den viden, der skal til for at kunne opholde sig i en chimpanseflok uden væsentlige forstyrrelser af deres dagligdag. Senere har hendes arbejde og rådgivning, inkl. fra medarbejdere på det oprettede Jane Goodall Institute, bidraget i adskillige lande til viden om og beskyttelsen af vilde chimpanser, der er truet i mange områder, samt til naturbevarelse i det hele taget.