Chimpanzee - generation family of hominids number of primates. This includes two modern species: common chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) and the pygmy chimpanzee (Pan paniscus), also known as bonobos. The latter is genetically closest to humans animals. Although chimpanzees can not speak because of the structure of the vocal tract, they are able to communicate in English hands deaf persons (sign language). They can use words in a figurative sense, can create new concepts by combining known words.
And now I'll tell you something.
After a gruelling two-day bus journey right through the heart of Zimbabwe we finally reached our destination. It is a lonely place in the middle of the bush that has been poached of almost all wildlife. There is an on going battle between conserving Africa’s wildlife and extreme poverty - who could blame someone for killing an antelope to feed their family when 95% of Zambians are unemployed.
Chimpanzee sprang into existence when a badly wounded infant chimpanzee was brought to the cattle farm of David and Sheila Siddle in the 1980's. Prior to this they had been travelling through Africa and had settled in this forgotten corner of Zambia. The wounded chimpanzee was nursed back to health and a tradition of care and respect that forms the legacy of the sanctuary today was formed.
I had the amazing opportunity to meet Sheila who is now in her 80’s. I had read her book In My Family Tree – A Life with Chimpanzees on the long journey up and I was equipped with questions. She couldn’t wait to share her fascinating stories and fond memories.
I was acting as a volunteer during my stay which meant some hard graft - picking fruit for the chimps’ insatiable appetites in the sweltering heat and cleaning up their feeding enclosures (which is not for the faint hearted!) It was all for a good cause and feeding them the fruits of our labours - quite literally - was incredibly rewarding.
