Then, in 1960 a daring young Englishwoman set out to sort fiction from truth.īRIGGS: It’s probably not too hard to guess whom this documentary is about. Even in modern times, knowledge of the elusive creature-the wild chimpanzee-was largely based on speculation. It’s been 60 years since Jane Goodall did her pioneering research, and since then, new generations of conservationists are stepping up to protect Africa’s most endangered chimps today.īRIGGS: I’d like to play you a little clip from a National Geographic documentary released way back-well, not that way back for some of us-in 1984: Among the Wild Chimpanzees.ĭocumentary voice-over: For centuries there were fearsome tales of a half-human monster roaming the African forests. This week, we meet a trio of women dedicated to learning all we can about Africa’s chimpanzees. I’m Amy Briggs, executive editor of National Geographic History magazine, and you’re listening to Overheard, a show where we eavesdrop on the wild conversations we have here at Nat Geo and follow them to the edges of our big, weird, beautiful world. And then we use the GPS coordinates from that particular location to trace them back later-this time around to get them arrested and destroy their farms and their campsite.īRIGGS: This forest that Rachel watches over is one of the last strongholds of a unique group of chimpanzees that could become extinct in just a few years. It's taking record of that particular position. So, of course, in his mind, he's thinking, Yeah, she must be right, that she's just a student because it doesn't make any sense that a woman is doing what I am doing.īRIGGS: But under all that pressure, in the back of her mind Rachel was already thinking of coming back to reclaim this small patch of forest.ĪSHEGBOFE: Right there, my GPS is on. Have you seen any monkeys lately? So, yeah, that was my strategy to avoid being killed.ĪSHEGBOFE: For a typical Nigerian-an average Nigerian man-it's unthinkable that a woman-an educated woman-would go into the forest. So I played in that female card like, Oh, just a woman researcher student who is going into the forest looking for monkeys. So I used the other weapon, which is natural to me, or to any woman. But if these men knew who she really was, they might not let her and her colleague leave.ĪSHEGBOFE: They were armed and we are not. But usually she’s prepared with motorcycles, guns, and lots of backup. Rachel is the project director for a forest conservation group and sometimes comes to uproot farms like this one. Marijuana is illegal in Nigeria and so is farming in protected forests. Unauthorized use is prohibited.īRIGGS: Rachel was in trouble.
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