Chimpanzee Life in the Mahale Forest of Tanzania with Mwiga
Mwiga Teaches Us All About Chimpanzee, Mwiga has spent much of his life in the forests of Mahale and is our resident chimpanzee expert. For the past five years, Mwiga has lived and studied in the forests of Mahale, and there is little he doesn’t know about its fascinating residents. Mwiga has worked at Greystoke Mahale since 1996, and in early 2011 was promoted to Greystoke Guide, the first guide who’s ancestry is from the very area.
Mwiga Teaches Us About Chimpanzees, Mwiga’s family has been working in conservation for two generations. His uncle, Kasakampe, worked for the original Japanese research team from Kyoto University, in the 1960s when scientists first started studying the behaviour of the M group of chimps here. Mwiga’s family – who had lived in the Mahale mountains for generations – were relocated outside of the mountain area when it was made into a National Park in 1975, so Mwiga was born some 200km north in the town of Kigoma. As soon as he had finished his education he returned ‘home’ to the Mahale mountains and in 1996 started work as a tracker at Greystoke Mahale.