Greystoke Mahale Lodge

Nomad share the mountains and the lake with so many animals, but it’s the chimps that inspire; it’s hard not to compare their daily lives, their movements, feeding, squabbling, foraging and grooming, with our own. Time spent with them is time away from everything else that is ordinary. The Greystoke guides have watched, over the years, as families have grown, alpha males have come and gone, bonds and friendships have been created, broken, and then created again. They are not so different from us.

After tracking them for an hour or two, maybe more, only aware of the sounds they are making ahead of you, you find them; suddenly, they are everywhere. You sit quietly on the forest floor and take a deep breath; this is what it’s all about. For the next hour, it’s as if you scarcely breathe, so wrapped up are you in watching them go about their daily life. You become aware of the subtleties of different relationships through gesture, sound and expression. One is dictating the pace, another is courting favour, yet another is perhaps plotting a coup. There is humour, too, as the young chimps fall about the floor and play remarkably human games.

It’s all acted out on this natural chimpanzee stage, and witnessing it is a true privilege.