In the Shadow of Man

Goodall was both fascinated and intimidated by Gombe’s rugged landscape. Seen from the lake, the surrounding area was a combination of logged hills, streams, forest, and tiny fishing settlements. At the time, Gombe was composed of steep mountains that were “thickly wooded and intersected by valleys supporting dense tropical forests” (14). Their guide, David Antsey, introduced Goodall, her mother, and their cook (Dominic) to the two scouts who lived on the reserve and the small group of African locals who were allowed to live on the reserve year-round. Everyone helped set up Goodall’s tent close to the scouts’ huts. Goodall began to explore the area, spotting some baboons, and immediately felt more at home.

Goodall was disappointed to learn that some of the local people resented her presence; a rumor held that she was a British government spy. Antsey arranged for her to meet the locals, hoping to reassure them. He’d already decided that a scout and the son of the local chief should accompany her and that she should employ another local as a porter. Goodall heard about the tensions between the colonial government and the local people: The locals were concerned that if Goodall found many chimps, the government would be more likely to try to claim the land from them permanently and prevent human habitation on the reserve.

The following day, Goodall explained her day’s plans to the chief’s son, who promptly left. She later learned that he thought he’d simply accompany her in a boat along the coast and not have to hike the steep slopes every day. Goodall was accompanied by Adolf, the scout, and Rashidi, a local man, on her first journey into the forest. The beauty of the woods and the wildlife amazed her. She and her companions watched 16 chimps gather around a msulula tree and heard their loud calls. Goodall found working with others difficult: They interrupted shifts with lunch breaks, and she wasn’t permitted to stay out by herself.

During the following days, Goodall insisted that the men bring their lunches with them and the group put in long hours observing the chimps eating at the msulula tree, even camping out to keep watch. Goodall found it difficult to see the individual chimps through the tree branches and foliage, and any attempt to get closer startled them away. She describes the following eight weeks as “depressing,” with few chimp sightings. While this experience was bitterly disappointing, Goodall acknowledges that she gained valuable experience in traversing Gombe, became more resistant to the landscape and the biting Tsetse fly, and became more aware of animal tracks. Although spotting chimps was difficult, Goodall saw mongooses, colobus monkeys, squirrels, shrews, bushpigs, and baboons. Over time, Adolf stopped accompanying Goodall because he didn’t fare well on long treks. Goodall was grateful for the knowledge and companionship of her African guides and the porters Rashidi, Soko, Wilbert, and Short, who all helped her at different times during her first months at Gombe.

Goodall and her mother both fell ill with malaria after living in Gombe for three months. During their two-week illness, they were too weak to leave their tents, and their cook, Dominic, took care of them. When Goodall was nearly recovered, she “risked official displeasure” (25) by venturing out alone. She sat on a high peak and eventually saw several chimps gather by a fig tree. They were soon joined by an even bigger group, including infants “perched like jockeys on their mothers’ backs” (26). Goodall was pleased with this “turning point” in her research. As the area’s fig trees continued to produce fruit, she began to consistently observe the chimps, who were growing used to her presence. Additionally, the scouts had accepted that she could work on her own; when her last African porter left his post, she didn’t hire another.

Goodall was happy to find a certain spot, “The Peak,” which was excellent for observing the chimps’ daily activities. She sometimes stayed there overnight to avoid wasting time climbing the mountain again the next day—and kept some provisions there as well. Goodall observed that the chimp communities were quite fluid: Individuals would come and go, sometimes forming their own small groups and then changing their companions. Male chimps often announced their presence at a feeding site by charging and pant-hooting, whereas females were quieter and simply joined other chimps and began eating. Goodall observed affection such as hand kissing and hugging, games and play, and grooming. In addition, she saw how chimps constructed their nests each night in the trees by bending branches and greenery into a mound or circle. The chimps kept their nests clean by always defecating over the side of them. Goodall climbed their trees and sat in the nests herself for a closer look. She had close encounters with a bushbuck (an antelope-like animal) and a leopard.

The chimps became increasingly accustomed to Goodall’s presence and didn’t run away if she remained at a distance. When Goodall could distinguish one chimp from the others, she assigned it a name. She began to learn more about individual chimps, such as elderly male Mr. McGregor, mothers Flo and Olly, juveniles Fifi and Figan, and adult males David Greybeard and Goliath. Goodall was relieved that, nearing the end of the “trial period” of her study, she made two important discoveries: The chimps ate the meat of wild bushpigs, and they used grass stems as tools to get into termite nests (34). While some people had seen chimps in West Africa using grass as tools, this behavior had never been scientifically confirmed or documented before, making the discovery significant. Even more interesting to Goodall was the chimps’ ability to look for the best possible stems and manipulate them to make them more effective; this evidence of tool making upset the existing scientific claim that humans were the only species that make and use tools. These groundbreaking observations helped Louis Leakey gain more funding for Goodall’s study, this time from the National Geographic Society in the US.