A Life with Animals: Jane Goodall

EXCERPT: Beginning a Life with the Chimpanzees of Gombe

July 16, 1960 was a very important day in the life of twenty-six-year-old Jane Goodall. It was the first time she set foot on the sandy beach along the shore of Lake Tanganyika in the Gombe National Park. Her life with the chimpanzees was about to begin. Helped by two Tanzanians who worked in the park, Jane and her mother found a suitable spot to set up their tent. Before they had left Kigoma, they had hired a cook, Dominic, who would prepare the meals and help them if any problems arose with local fishermen. After they set up camp, Jane set off for her first walk through the forest and hills that would become so familiar to her over the next thirty-five years.