HUGGING THE CHIMPS

The first thing I heard when I arrived was their screams.  I looked up and saw them: black shadows perched in the treetops, watching me.  As I approached the bamboo-fenced enclosure a flurry of dark figures descended; and when I entered the yard through the four-foot-high metal gate, three young chimpanzees rushed up and surrounded me.

One of them leaped straight into my arms.  He stared at me, his amber-colored eyes only inches from my face.  After a few moments of unselfconscious study, he began a minute inspection of my face, looking at my eyes, my lashes, my nose, and up my nostrils.  Finally he took strands of my hair and began to pull them.

Meanwhile, another chimpanzee youngster searched through the pockets of my shorts and then, with surprising strength, took my hand and tried to draw me away.  The third black-haired baby who had rushed over to greet me seemed fascinated by the rubber surf shoes I was wearing, first poking at them with a long index finger, then attempting to tear them off my feet.

"Watch out!" I heard, just in time to avoid being hit by a heavy metal bowl.  Another young chimpanzee, unable to get closer because he was tethered to a line, had flung it accurately in my direction to attract attention.

For years I had been dreaming of this moment, yet the first minutes with the youngsters Niyon, Dufa, Chipie, and Max were surprisingly different from what I had expected.  To get so close to them was thrilling.  I had never held a chimpanzee baby in my arms before, and Niyon's intelligent face, his handsome looks, and the smoky smell of his hair left me almost giddy with excitement.  Yet being suddenly surrounded by these powerful apes was also intimidating, especially when I began to realize just how amazingly strong these young animals were.  What if they decided to turn that strength against me?

The four were part of a group of 19 chimpanzees I would help to look after for the next three months at the Halfway House, a chimpanzee orphanage.  It had been founded by the Jane Goodall Institute in Bujumbura, the capital of Burundi, and I had flown to Central Africa to work there as a volunteer.