Mahale All Stars

With one good month to go before the end of this season in Greystoke Mahale, we’d like to have a quick look back on some of the real stars that the M group produced this season. 

Primus Time

Undoubtedly the big breakthrough of this season; Primus (25 yrs) crowned himself Alpha male in September last year. Initially based on a fragile alliance without full support of the high ranking females, the past 6 months he has increasingly become a respected Alpha male. Mistake not! Primus’ daily task isn’t small as he’s leading a group of 60 individuals through their 37 sq km home range in search of food. 

Primus, just after he became Alpha in September 2012.

Both physically big and strong, our take is that Primus will remain in his position for some time to come. However, competition from other males is present and it won’t be an easy position to maintain as he will be challenged. As you might be so lucky to trek the Mahale Mts, Primus is easy to spot by both his physical size, brownish face and the white dot on his bottom lip. 

Primus last week as we met with him just out of camp.

Michio – Mr lips

Meet Michio (17 yrs) - one of our absolute favorites. Michio is a low ranking male chimpanzee that is not even close to the likes of the real biggies such as Primus, Alofu, Darwin and Orion. But Michio’s charm is in his calmness and in his inquisitive behavior. 

Michio checking out who that other chimpanzee really is...

Featuring in the camp’s most spectacular video of the year – the chimp and the mirror - Michio’s reaction to our camp mirror was one never to forget! 

Michio - charming as always - having trouble keeping his mouth closed.

But there is more. Michio feels at ease with humans. He sometimes comfortably moves within the 10 meter range and makes a many heart beat faster. Last November, when we observed the M group eating mangoes from our tree in Greystoke camp, Michio approached the group to wait for his turn to get to the fruits. Together with our guests were observing the scene from the steps of the toilet building when Michio walked up to us within a meter. He had decided to wait for his turn together with us. Quietly he sat down on the step next to us, feeling totally at ease. 

Michio sitting at Greystoke toilet entrance, after we moved away a little from Michio's cozyness...

Michio is also well known for his hanging bottom lip. Certainly looking forward to see more this man soon!

Orion – The short fused one

Nr 5 in the group, Orion (23 yrs), belongs to the crème de la crème of de M unit and he likes showing it. Although Primus undoubtedly is his superior, Orion too is impressive if it comes to physics. 

Orion, as he chews away on freshly picked mango fruit.

He is the chimpanzee that loves power displays - in particular showing them to humans. Wildly crushing through the trees and jumping from vines to branches, when this chimpanzee is on a rage towards you standing your ground suddenly becomes very exciting! 

Numerous hilarious moments we had with this short fused chimpanzee. But make no mistake – never does he touch – but lasting impressions for the mind he brings. For sure!

Ceasar & Teddy – Sweet as honey

Both young adults, Ceasar (14 yrs) and Teddy yrs (12 yrs) are the handsome guys of the group. Not close to being ranked as decisive individuals, their submission to Primus and the other higher ranking individuals is vital for their existence. 

Ceasar posing for the camera, with hands under his chin.

Growing slowly further into adult hood will show how much physics and importance they will gain.

But for now the two pink and cute faced ones have the looks that makes one wonder if they really aren’t human. 

Teddy - or Mr Pose - himself...

Not shy at all, it’s the positions that both males tend to take for pictures. Arms crossed, hand under the chin, slightly turned head - marvelous material!!

Jungle bells

Painted reed frogs come in many color variations and patterns and therefore it took us some time to identify this beauty of a frog. Though most species live in grasslands in sub saharan Africa there is also one group that is found in the forests of west and central Africa. 

And here it is...

A painted reed frog resting during the day.

Unlike most other frogs that prefer to hide during the day, the painted reed frog can be spotted in the open. Like this little fellow that we found sitting on a leaf behind one of the guest rooms.

Beautiful in its appearance, the frog has no neck that separates the head from its body. With an average size of approx 3 cm’s the frogs are small. Painted reed frogs mate during the rainy season and it’s during this time that males sing together in groups, calling from tall grasses, bushes or even trees. These frogs make for a beautiful African jungle sound, like the ringing of small bells – jungle bells. 

Painted reed frogs have no necks, as is easy to see here.

Small and attractive – it’s certainly noisy!

Nanny ship

This morning’s trek was fabulous. And not only because of the large number of chimpanzees that we saw. It was the group activity that we found to be so amusing!

Today Fatuma’s 2,5 year old daughter spend some quality learning time with her nanny of choice; Gwekulo. The single most popular nanny in the group, Gwekulo is liked by both babies and mothers. Sadly she has never been able to conceive children herself.

Gwekulo with Fatuma's baby sitting on the tree.

Now 50 years old, Gwekulo certainly tries to make up for that by teaching valuable life lessons to infants and spending plenty of time with them.

The lesson of this morning was how to impress other chimpanzees. This was done by pounding the back leg on the tree as loudly as possible. Although not totally visible on the picture, the scene was hilarious. As the baby tried to pound her little leg on the tree, Gwekulo watched her in satisfaction.

Fatuma's baby raising her right leg to start pounding the tree in order to impress others... 

The other lesson was pant hooting. Though chimpanzees panthoot for many reasons, this morning’s lesson focused on paying respect to higher ranking individuals. 

To the right Gwekulo is pant hooting in a submissive way. The baby is paying attention and trying vocalize too...

As alpha male Primus approached the group, Gwekulo showed how to panthoot as a form of subsmission.

Gwekulo moving forward towards Primus as she keep pant hooting.

With the baby paying attention to every detail, you can see how she makes the effort to move forward on the tree branch, trying to pant hoot in the meantime.

And after Gwekulo also Fatauma's baby move forward trying to show respect...

The scenes of this morning were totally amusing and very interesting to see - we hope to catch some more nanny ship lessons in the coming week.

The Cotton Stainer

Often overshadowed by the charismatic and more appealing chimpanzees, the great variety of insects found in Mahale Mountains NP is certainly very interesting. Especially after a little research you realize what and enormous array of bugs share the same place as us.

A bug often encounter along the forested paths of Greystoke camp is the pale cotton stainer. Relative small in size with a body length up to 17 mm it’s brightly colored and feeds mainly on seeds associated with species of wild hibiscus and kapok . Interestingly adults remain mated for days!

Mating cotton stainers on the forest path near Greystoke camp

And where the name comes from…?

The Cotton Stainer is widely spread with over 300 species worldwide. Adults can pierce cotton bolls to suck sap from the seeds, allowing a fungi to enter the cotton which stains it with a yellowish color. Especially during the industrial revolution in the USA this little bug caused massive problems.

That’s what I said – you just have to look it up and it becomes very interesting!

My best Monday

To us trekking chimpanzees is outright adventure. It so very different every time we are out! I know I am repeating myself here, but it’s hard to imagine how positively intense the experience of viewing chimpanzees in the wild is.

This Monday morning we approached the chimpanzees in the northern reach of their territory. A long but beautiful jungle hike through dense greenery, we could hear the chimpanzees vocalizing well before we actually saw the first individuals. Listening to their voices from afar, our guide Robert could tell some of them were fighting.

Alofu, 33 yrs, 2nd ranking male in M group (left), Kalunde, 54 yrs (center), Carter, 28 yrs.

When we found the chimpanzees a good five minutes later, peace had returned to the group. From where we stood we counted the surrounding forest floor and some of the trees and could see at least 20 chimpanzees. Some of them – Bonobo for example – freshly wounded.

Right in front of us on the edge of the group, three males were peacefully grooming each other. With all the time in the world Alofu (left) groomed Kalunde (center), who on his turn groomed Carter. As we spend another 50 minutes with the chimpanzees, it seemed like quality family time for them. All peacefully resting and grooming on the floor of the jungle.

But how close do they sometimes get? 

Primus; the nr. 1 ranking male of the M - group just sat there for a couple of minutes...

Well - very close. As we stood and observed them, Primus (the M-group Alpha male) walked straight up to us and sat down right in front of me. Less than a meter away from my legs, my heart pounded but I so much enjoyed the thrill of the experience. My best Monday so far!

Greystoke's water world

Sure enough chimpanzee trekking will take the best part of your day in Greystoke. Though many people make it back to camp before lunch and so there is plenty of time to join in other brilliant activities.

Just a couple of our favorites to get your fantasy going…

Suzanne, Richard and Anna Williams on a Kayak trip.

Get some exercise and Kayak the lake waters north of camp. Did you ever kayak a crystal clear lake full of deserted beaches, mountainous forests and wildlife? Here you go!

Snorkeling the rocky coast.

More exercise! Swimming in the Greystoke bay is refreshing and cool with water temperatures hovering between 24 C– 25 C (72 - 75 F) year round. Had enough of normal swimming ? Gear up with a snorkel, mask and fins from the camp and have a look at the nearly 400 colourful Cichlid species that Lake Tanganyika has to offer. Especially in front of our rocky bar area the snorkeling is excellent.

Diving of the from the front of boat during sunset - brilliant! Picture courtesy of Ariadne van Zandbergen. 

Then… likely to be our favorite non-chimping activity of all; sunset cruise meets diving. Sail out far from the coast to the deep blue waters of Lake Tanganyika and take in the stunning surroundings with a cool drink. The lush forest covered mountains are everywhere. Then as the sun starts sinking in the sky, get off that shirt and dive from the boat.  

Other worldly sunsets

Powerful, spectacular and short; this area of East Africa is known for its tropical thunderstorms. And with these brilliant storms, we offer sunsets you will find hard to believe - so beautiful. 

Just before 19.00 hrs, the sun sets over the mountains in Congo.

As you can see afternoon storms brewing over the Lukuga basin across the lake, you know what’s soon coming our way.

Often unleashed over the lake as they make their way from west to east, the sky remains littered with shreds of stormy clouds all around.

Shreds of stormy clouds fill the sky.

Then when sunsets kicks in - close to seven o’clock – the dense and humid air is lit up in a way that is close to other worldly. Sometimes even, lightening is still striking as the sun is painting the horizon!