And as you can see in this image we were successful.
The chimp is right there in the center of the image. See?
Ok, so that shot is reminiscent of one you'd see in a story on Bigfoot. Here's a (slightly) better one.
I did say slightly.
One more try.
The chimps were walking up the path that we had just walked down. Had we remained on that section of the trail they would have walked right past us. But we, on the advice of the trackers, were rushing up and down the trail. Unlike with he Golden Monkeys or the Gorillas, we had to work for our time with the chimps.
And I was glad I engaged a porter on this trip as we had to bushwhack a hundred plus meters up the side of a hill after they turned off the path. We did have a lead guide with a machete whacking some of the bush, but it was a strenuous climb in spots. Too strenuous for our tour guide ... more on that later.
Once up the hill we did get good, albeit somewhat distant, looks at the apes.
They were gorging on figs (the round fruits in this and the following images).
Once up the hill we found a path that led to the trail we had been on. It made for an easier trip down. And would have made for an easier trip up had we known where the chimps were headed.
As with he gorillas we had an hour to spend watching these creatures. We watched as they munched on figs, playing with their food. We saw several scramble down trees, surprisingly quick and agile for such large animals.
In all we saw six or so different individuals, on the path, in trees, and noisily moving through the forest.
And our tour guide? He stayed down on the path and had several walk right on by.
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