Fimbi playing with water from a tree hole

By Hassan Rashidi, Tracker- Greystoke Mahale.

On 10^th of Jan 2010, I was in the forest tracking chimpanzees. I found them on a junction of Kijanga road and R2, and I saw the young daughter of Fatuma - Fimbi on a false nutmeg tree, sitting on a branch playing with water from a tree hole that accumulated when it rained. She was scooping the water with her hands, and throwing it on her body as if washing and throws some water on the ground into a hole. When she saw that there was still some water in the hole, she picked leaves and filled in the hole, and then climbed down and followed her mother in the undergrowth. When the clients arrived and saw her playing with water they got very excited.

Squirrel and snake in Mahale

By Mwiga Mambo, Guide - Greystoke Mahale

In the early morning of 4th January 2010, I was tracking the chimpanzees. On that day the chimps were spread out in the forest because of food shortages at this time of the year. The chimps were so quiet and I could not hear them calling. I tried to walk to different areas of the forest, and when I got to Kijanga road near LOS, I saw a squirrel up a tree screaming loudly and tail raised it jumped to another branch.

When I tried to look carefully up a tree I saw a snake lying on a branch with its head raised looking at the squirrel. After a minute the snake tried to move to another branch and the squirrel jumped in front of the snake, and the snake stopped and tried to raise its head again and catch the squirrel, but the squirrel was fast enough to jump to another branch, and I could see the snake panicking and trying to chase the squirrel up a tree, and when the snake stopped the squirrel stopped as well and keep on screaming. The whole event took about fifteen minutes and after that everyone took its way.

My first encounter with a Mahale leopard

By Kakae Laiza - Guide, Greystoke Mahale

Leopards are secretive nocturnal mammals found in most Africa terrain, where there is shade and water. Mahale National park being a land of both densely and sparsely vegetated landscapes with numerous rivers streams transecting it, provides a perfect habitat for leopards. Although Mahale is believed to have many leopards within it, I had never spotted one before, for the whole one and half a years I have stayed here, until last month. More often I do hear them roaring at night in the forest surrounding our camp. 

Some people, however, have been luckier and have had glimpses of this bizarre animal in a full moon lit at night along open sites on the beach.  Just last month, having rested the whole morning, i decided to go for a walk in the forest. As I was alone, I managed to walk silently while listening to lovely songs from weird elegant birds, cicadas and crickets. My concentration on this breath taking songs, occasionally was interrupted by rapid sprints from blue duikers - which often dashed away when I was about four feet from them. When I had walked a fair distance from camp, I felt a sensory alert starting from the top of my head all down to the soles of my feet. I felt hairs on my head bristle up, a sign normally happens to me when something unusual is about to happen.  I stopped, with my eyes wide open--scanning to all sides to find anything in the surroundings. 

Suddenly I noticed an object with a long spotted tail waved from side to side-- moving on my right hand side. I stood still looking at this very beautiful creature, a leopard, normal seen at night. To that moment it hasn’t noticed my presences. The leopard in a relaxed mood walked toward a big brachstegia tree. When it got there, it stopped and then, with it is claws scratched the tree. Tree scratching by leopards is a common behavior to this cat and it is believed to serve to function in territory marking and sharpening their retractable claws. I enjoyed watching this creature for five minutes before it walked away into the forest undergrowth.