Our guests found the male Chimpanzees in their southern territory. It was the first time we had seen them since the assassination. Alofu was in charge and was accompanied by Kalunde, Bonobo, Fanana, Orion, Carter, Christmas and Michio.
The guys were in an agitated state and our guests witnessed several of the lower ranked males displaying in there characteristic hyper state with hair bristling, arms and legs stomping the ground, running on two legs then swinging on low branches. Noticeable in their absence were Primus the former number 3 and Darwin.
Our trackers and guides can identify most of the Chimpanzees by their distinctive calls and they could hear a solitary Chimpanzee in the distance, it was Darwin. After Pimu’s death Darwin sat by himself for hours in a tree above the body, he was also one of the only male Chimps who tried to defend Pimu. He may now be too nervous to join the group.
We thought Primus would jump Alofu into the Alpha position. We suspect he may have been badly wounded during the fight and has slunk off on his own to lick his wounds. Let’s hope he is OK, it will be interesting to see what happens when he does enter the fray again.
Later in the day as we rested in camp the male Chimps could be heard approaching. They entered around 4pm and the guests had a bonus sighting. I watched Kalunde grooming Alofu who in turn was grooming Fanana, all old freinds.
Every time a distant Chimp called they would stop look around and reply with loud pant hoots. Here Alofu stands as he answers a call.
