The chimps at Gishwati

Once the excitement of being new in Africa started winding down late last year, I began becoming more aware of other, more subtle things that pertain to today’s realities in this part of the world. And one such thing has been Rwandan geography -- and essentially the way in which it has been reshaped in the last few decades. First, lots of forests were cleared in the ‘70s, in a governmental program aimed at extending agricultural lands (mostly for potatoes and pyrethrum fields – yes, those lovely daisies, which are actually the most effective natural insecticide in the world.). Then came the wave of degazetting former protected areas in the wake of the 1994 genocide, to give lands to the returning refugees and make place for the cash-crops, such as coffee and tea. So much so, that when you now drive from Ruhengeri to the DRC border (an hour on a perfect road), you look left and right and see just over-crowded villages and rolling tea-plantations, where less than 20 years ago you had deep wilderness.

No surprise then, that my curiosity to trek Gishwati, the one forest left intact in the east of the country, kept growing. All the more so, as in the last couple of years they started a program of habituating the previously-thought-long-gone chimpanzee population. As I had never seen chimps in the wild, and as this is still off the tourist-map of Rwanda (i.e. FREE, i.e. unbelievable), I kept trying to get a visit there. Finally, last week, the people running the project there accepted me (as a representative of Karisoke) and my friend Alberto to go visit.

Now, as with all things in Africa, everything is totally last minute. I was in Congo, recovering after other last-minute plan changes, and on my way back to cross the border on Sunday afternoon, when I got the call that the visit to Gishwati was in place for EARLY Monday morning. Alberto and I met in Gisenyi (the border town of Rwanda), got accommodation at the Dian Fossey Hotel (what a perfect match, right?!) and then prepared for a crazy adventure the following day.

We were picked up at the crack of dawn, drove to this village for about two hours, then waited for the habituation team to come over for the second shift of the day. And off we went. I had NO IDEA that Gishwati was so radically different from the Volcanoes National Park forest, where I go to see gorillas. It is still very high up (2,500m), but it is completely humid, and thus swampy in places. A real, majestic rain forest, with waterfalls, huge ferns, and incredible birds (finally saw the turaco up-close – WOW!). We were really lucky to get a fantastic day – and then, when a bit of a heavy rain started coming down, we were so well protected by the canopy that we barely got a few drops. Actually, the only annoying thing of the day – some crazy biting ants, that somehow targeted me only, and that were crawling everywhere in my pants and underwear – and, quite remarkably actually, even within the layers of my knee bandage?!?

Anyhow. After quite a hike (not comparable to the one for gorillas, though, which is much more abrupt), we met and swapped the first habituation team after midday, and spent the rest of the afternoon staring high up in the trees, within the very narrow space between the hoods and the masks. These chimps are quite something. Fission and fusion, as I learnt. Meaning, they come together in small groups, then they go apart again, then reunite with other chimps. Basically, impossible to keep track of all of them. In theory, there are about 20 in Gishwati, but we were told we were lucky to see four of them (of which, one female with a really cute baby).

It was all quite an experience, although completely exhausting (we made it back to our hotel in Gisenyi at midnight, after another hike, a long wait in a completely dark village with dozens of kids around us, and the drive back, of course). 24 hours later, my neck is still hurting from looking up so very high for so many hours. In any event, I have a new appreciation for the guys doing the habituation. What a difficult (and, honestly, boring at times) job! But what a day they gave us!