From the Trackers of Greystoke MahaleA Nomad tracker has the responsibility of tracking the habituated chimpanzees in Mahale for Greystoke’s visitors. The home range of these chimpanzees covers an area of just over 30 square miles, rising up from the lakeshore through tropical forest to 2,400 metres (around 7,800 feet).
On 13th of June we woke up early in the morning, ready to leave at first light at 7:00am to track the chimps. Normally in May and June it’s very tricky to find the chimps because food is scarce hence they are spread out through the forest. During these months they prefer higher parts of their home range so we normally go to the peak of the hills or mountains to try to listen to their calls as the sound can travel for up to 1 kilometer, making it easier for us to hear and follow them.
On this particular date we set up to the forest to track them, and went to Ihako valley where they prefer to visit at this time to feed on Canthium fruits, but we did not find them, not even the sign of their presence. So we went up to Kiboko Mountain which is in the south east of their home range. At this part of the forest the trails are gentle and not steep and the walk took us one hour. We heard the calls coming from Mkurume Mountain which is very steep and very hard to climb. We followed the calls for 45 minutes and found 6 chimps feeding on fruits; they moved to Nsansa valley which is north east of Mkurume and climbed Kambele Mountain which is south east of river Nsansa, going down the valley and climbing Kambele Mountain was very steep and we could hardly keep up with their speed.
In total it took us 2 and a half hours to find them. They found enough Canthium fruits in this area and started feeding again. On this mountain there are many fruit trees and we were certain that they were going to stay long without moving so we radioed back to the camp for the guide to bring our guests up the mountain to see them. They walked for almost two hours before they reached us, and spent close to one hour watching the group of chimpanzees.
