[Pilgrimage] Arrival, and the First Step of a Stranger (2/4)

Jane Goodall’s Journey: An 8-Night, 9-Day Record

한국어 버전을 보고 싶거나, 이야기를 계속해서 받아보길 원하시는 경우 아래 페이지로 이동해주세요. (작가 블로그 가기)

In Search of the Lost Language of the Forest (Record #2)

Day 3: Arrival, Air of a Different Rhythm

After a blur of nights and days, the plane touches down in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The moment the door opens, the air of another world rushes deep into the lungs like a living thing. Humid heat, the unfamiliar scent of earth and red dust, the smell of charcoal fires. An unpredictable vitality, completely different from the orderly calm of London. Every sense in the body, breaking from its standby mode, awakens.

Time here follows the sun. The time of civilization is a race of minutes and seconds, but time here follows the cycle of the sun and seasons. After transferring to a domestic flight, we arrive in Kigoma, at the very edge of civilization. The terminus of the Central Line railway, built during the German colonial era. There is no more road. At the end of this line, the real journey to find her traces begins.

At the End of the Road: The Terminus of Civilization The place where everything stops. Standing in front of the old Kigoma railway station, she must have realized that the order of civilization was over, and that she had entered a world with entirely new rules. No more set schedules, no more promised destinations. An entry into a world where her own two feet and her observations would be the only map.

Near Kigoma is the village of Ujiji. This is a place that echoes with history. It is where Henry Morton Stanley, the explorer and journalist, dramatically found David Livingstone, the famed explorer who had vanished while mapping the continent.

Upon the History of Exploration: Opening a New Era And the line that came to symbolize the golden age of Western exploration these men left behind:

“Dr. Livingstone, I presume?”
 — Henry Morton Stanley

The condensed history of African exploration seems to ring in my ears. Standing under this symbolic mango tree, what did she think? Did her own presence here finally feel real to her? The girl who read Tarzan, now standing in the same spot decades later, was about to take her first step to usher in a new era. A step past the age of conquest and discovery walked by her predecessors, and toward an age of understanding and coexistence.

A Market of the Living: The First Observation After dropping our bags at the lodge, we head to the lakeside market at dusk. The smell of drying silver ‘Dagaa’ (an East African sardine similar to an anchovy — author’s note), the sound of energetic bargaining in an unfamiliar tongue, the laughter of children. The raw vitality of a new culture. This, perhaps, was the first ‘forest’ she had to observe.

End of Day 3: Standing on the Border of Civilization

In the evening, I watch the massive red sun set over Lake Tanganyika. We are so accustomed to a life of controlling nature. But this first night here is a lesson in surrendering myself completely to the grand rhythm of nature. To accept, as simple fact, that it gets dark when the sun sets, and the stars come out. Tomorrow, the forest on the other side of that lake will be calling.

Kigoma Trail: At the Edge of Civilization

Exploring the Town

Kigoma Railway Station

• Location: Kigoma town center
• Comment: The final terminus of the Central Line railway starting from Dar es Salaam.

Ujiji & Livingstone Memorial

• Location: Approx. 10km south of Kigoma
• Comment: A symbolic site in the history of African exploration.

Kibirizi Fish Market

• Location: On the shore of Lake Tanganyika
• Transport: Fly from Dar es Salaam (DAR) to Kigoma (TKQ) on a domestic flight (Approx. 2 hours).

Day 4: Gombe, a Stranger’s First Step

Morning in Kigoma begins with sunlight shattering across the lake. Today, we leave the last traces of civilization behind and head for Gombe. We board an old motorboat. As the shore recedes, the city’s noise fades, until only the sound of the waves and the engine remains.

Lake Tanganyika is as wide and deep as an ocean. Its name, ‘Inland Sea,’ is well-deserved. For two hours, this journey cutting through the blue water is both a physical transfer and a time of perfect severance. Finally, a giant green wall appears in the distance. Gombe National Park. The boat touches the shore. The moment my feet hit the sand, I am a complete outsider.

A Home Without Borders: The Courage of a Single Canvas When Jane and her mother, Vanne, first arrived here in 1960, their only home was a single, worn-out military tent. At the beach camp where she likely stayed, I imagine their first night, relying on that one tent. With only a canvas sheet between them, they had to face strange insects, snakes, and the sound of leopards calling in the night. The first day here was not a matter of romance, but of survival. The forest does not promise hospitality. It merely watches.

The Path to the Forest: A Daily Pilgrimage The Gombe Stream, which gives the park its name, was the only path connecting the beach camp to the forest’s interior. Her day began by following this stream. Her first walks, listening to the water, treading on the damp earth, moving deeper into the woods. This is the origin point of her thoughts and observations. Her traces are here. Passing the research station that was also her home, I reflect on the waiting, the solitude, and the desire that made it all bearable.

The Stage of Waiting: The Valley of Waiting This is the first valley you meet when you follow the Gombe Stream. It was the main stage where she wandered, searching for chimpanzees. Today, I stand at the mouth of this valley, trying to fathom the long period of waiting that is to come. Nature does not easily lower its guard for a perfect stranger. It never speaks first, not until it is sure you are one of an ally. There is only the sound of the waterfall, erasing even the sound of my footsteps, and the silence it creates.

End of Day 4: A Quiet Initiation into the Wild

Gombe at night is a world of unfamiliar forest sounds and perfect darkness. Without a single familiar light, only unidentifiable sounds envelop the tent. A stranger, completely isolated from civilization. In that fear, she must have been taking her first steps toward learning the language of the forest. I tremble, but then I think, “The fear they must have felt from us humans… it must be just like this. No, it must have been far greater.” And I ask for forgiveness. I ask this forest to accept me, and I try to sleep.

Get the Gombe National Park Guidebook (Google Maps Pins included)

Gombe Stream National Park Trail

Gombe Beach Camp

• Location: North of Kigoma, on the shore of Lake Tanganyika
• Coordinates: Approx. 4°40’ S, 29°38’ E
• Transport: Approx. 2 hours by boat from Kigoma. Advance permits and reservations are required for park entry.

Gombe Stream

• Route: The main path leading from the beach camp into the forest interior.

Kakombe Valley

• Location: Upper Gombe Stream, in the heart of the park.
• Gombe National Park Bandas
• Advance permits and reservations are required.

(End of Arrival, and the First Step of a Stranger)

Thanks for reading!
Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.