Under the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Ecology, I worked in the Tai National forest (Ivory Coast) as a research assistant and camp manager for the Tai Chimpanzee Project. As a camp manager, I was responsible for maintaining the scientific integrity of the most remote research camp. This camp was situated deep in the forest and was only accessible by foot. After being trained in, this meant that I functioned in a local team of assistants, collecting behavioural data in the forest. Since the locals only spoke french, this helped me rediscover the French language after only sporadic use after high school. It has also taught me to interact in a professional capacity with cultures vastly different from my own. A lesson that has created an awareness around anothers’ perception, in a uniquely intense manner, since the major part of my social interactions (outside of forest hours) consisted of chatting to the locals.
Other than camp management, I spent long days (4am-6pm) in the forest collecting data on chimpanzee behaviour. This entailed navigation to the nest site using GPS, traversing challenging terrain (dense jungle, swamps and jungle rivers), following my focal group (or subgroup) all day until they nested. After nesting, I dropped a waypoint and navigated my way back to camp. In the forest I collected as much focal data as possible (following chimpanzees through dense jungle is more difficult than it may seem). The social deprivation and weather conditions added to the difficulty, as a tropical storm could render a previously benign hillside into a thundering river in a moments time. Needless to say, these were extremely challenging mental and physical conditions. It took time for me to trust my decision making in this environment and to ’tune in’ to the rythm of the forest. Throughout this process, I have grounded myself in a way I would have never been able to in my western life. It solidified my connection to the natural world, which has become an essential requirement for my emotional wellbeing.
By spending so much time alone with the chimpanzees, I have deepened my intuition of animal behaviour. I have spent many hours contemplating social constructs, culture, environmental pressures, and various behaviours that make up the chimpanzees behavioural repertoire. I was meant to transition into a PhD after my position as a research assistant. Unfortunately, I fell seriously ill during my work in the forest and had return to my home country. The recovery from the illness took a long time during which I could not pursue my career in the sciences. This has taken an emotional toll on me but looking back after all these years, I think it has strengthened me and after finding my way back to my passion, the experience will serve as an asset to my future career.
Learn more about the Tai Chimpanzee Project here.
