Goodali’s Gift
By Arlene Sánchez and Curt Busse
The last time we saw Jane Goodall, she hugged and kissed us goodbye and said, “Please say hello to Gremlin for me.”
We were on our way to Gombe National Park, site of Jane’s pioneering study of wild chimpanzees. Gremlin, the matriarch of one of Gombe’s best-known chimpanzee families, had long been one of Jane’s favorites.
So we went to Gombe with a mission: find Gremlin and deliver Jane’s greeting.
On our last day at Gombe, with time running out, Gremlin and her six-year-old son Goodali came walking up a remote forest trail toward us. What happened next stunned everyone who was there.
Arlene and Curt at the Kakombe waterfall in Gombe National Park. Over the past many years, Jane would visit this waterfall for spiritual renewal every time that she came to Gombe.
Jane’s Request
We had the honor of attending Jane’s official 90th birthday celebration in Manhattan on April 3, 2024. During 2024, Jane would have dozens of birthday celebrations – almost everywhere she traveled.
Here Arlene has just asked Jane how she was feeling on her 90th birthday. Her reply: “I’m weary!” Jane never minced words, but she kept going because she believed it was her mission to inspire others and spread a message of hope for the future.
Just three months later, we happened to be passing through Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on the same day that students from local chapters of Root & Shoots held a 90th birthday celebration for Jane.
Jane addresses students during the birthday celebration at the Mbezi Beach High School. Standing next to Arlene is our good friend Dr. Anthony “Tony” Collins. Next to him partially hidden is Jane’s grandson Merlin.
We would be traveling the next day to Gombe, while Jane was heading to Arusha to meet with designers of her upcoming museum. As we parted ways with Jane at the school, she asked us to say hello to one of her favorite chimpanzees, Gremlin, while we were at Gombe.
July 17, 2024. Jane’s House on Lake Tanganyika
It was the last day of our first visit to Gombe, in 2024. We had seen many chimps, but not Gremlin. Tony invited us to spend the morning with him at Jane’s house, where he lived most of the year.
Tony explains some of the history of Jane’s house, built in 1971. The water level of Lake Tanganyika had risen so much in 2024 that the beach had disappeared and the waves almost reached the balcony.
While we were chatting in Jane‘s living room, we heard a chorus of chimpanzee pant-hoots (loud calls) coming from the hillside right behind the house. Arlene ran outside and looked up in the direction of the calls. There they were! She spotted several chimps climbing down from the trees and heading toward us near the beach. We had not even been looking for them, but here they were visiting us right at Jane’s house!
Then Tony gave us the truly great news: one of them was Gremlin! In fact, she was there with most of her family, including her twin daughters Glitter and Golden, her young son Goodali, and several grandchildren. The eight chimps walked slowly along the beach and past the research center, where we watched then eat fruit in the trees for almost an hour. And of course, we delivered Jane’s greeting to Gremlin and her entire family!
Fifty-four year old Gremlin followed by her granddaughter Gossamer on the morning of July 17, 2024.
Return to Gombe
Our visit to Gombe in 2024 was so fabulous that we decided to return two years later, this time for a longer stay. Without any hesitation we booked our trip again with Raza Visram of AfricanMecca Safaris.
Just two months later, on October 1, 2025, we were deeply saddened to learn that our dear friend Jane had suddenly passed away. We attended her funeral at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC, along with 2,500 of her closest friends. Jane was a true pioneer who had transformed her love of animals and nature into a passion to inspire young people with hope for a better world.
Undeterred by this irreplaceable loss, we set off again for Gombe, arriving on August 2, 2026. We knew that Jane would be with us in spirit, and we were more determined than ever to find Gremlin, now 56 years old, and the only surviving chimpanzee from Jane’s early days at Gombe.
Our Last Chance to See Gremlin
It was the final day of our spectacular 8-day stay at Mblai Mbali Lodge, located along Lake Tanganyika inside Gombe National Park at the northern end. We had seen chimps every day, but not Gremlin. This would be our last chance.
The chimps had spent most of the week in a remote area known as Kahama.1 Around 8 a.m. we set off from the lodge with our guide Omari and the Scales family – Tim, Alice, Poppy, and Marcus – on the four mile boat trip to Kahama, with a brief stop half way there at the Kasakela research centre to pick up our tracker, Patrick.
The Boat Ride to Kahama
The morning boat rides on the crystal clear waters of Lake Tanganyika were always a joy. Invariably we saw groups of red colobus monkeys and baboons along the shore, as well as the occasional blue monkeys, redtail monkeys, and a host of birds.
Staff of the Mbali Mbali Gombe Lodge prepare for the daily “chimp trekking” expedition. The chimps had last been seen at a distant location, the Kahama stream, four miles to the south along the lake.
Our trusty African pied wagtail (Motacilla aguimp) was quick to join in the expedition, much to Arlene’s delight.
Blue monkeys (Cercopithecus mitis) near the shoreline.
Red colobus monkeys (Piliocolobus tephrosceles) leaping through the trees along the shoreline. 
Male giant kingfisher (Megaceryle maxima). This photo was taken from the moving boat using a Nikon Coolpix P950 camera with an 83x optical zoom lens.
Half way to Kahama we stopped at the Kasakela research centre to pick up our tracker Patrick, who works with Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA). This is the exact spot where Jane and her mother Vanne first landed at Gombe in 1960.
On our boat ride from Kasakela to Kahama we saw another large group of red colobus monkeys, this time feeding on leaf buds in a tree along the lake. The chirping sound is the wagtail bird hitching a ride on the boat.
The Search for Gremlin
The hour-long boat trip was the easy part. Upon landing at the Kahama beach, the real work began. We’ve included a number of short videos that Curt took that morning to document the amount of effort required to find the chimps.2 This was not your typical African safari!
At 8:58 a.m. we arrived at the Kahama Beach. A boat bringing tourists from another location had already arrived. The chimps had been here in Kahama valley all week and a ranger was tracking them. This was our sixth morning landing here.
We paid homage to the majestic mango tree near the beach.
Patrick was in radio contact with one of his colleagues who had been tracking the chimps since sunrise and was watching them some 40 minutes upstream. At the time, the chimps were feeding quietly and were not on the move. Best of all, Gremlin was with them!
After hiking along the north side of the Kahama stream for about 20 minutes, we carefully crossed the stream. Our new friends from London, the Scales family, had gone ahead while we hiked “polepole” (slowly) with our guide Omari (black shirt) and our tracker Patrick.
We walked uphill to where the stream splits in two. There, we took the left (northern) branch into the Korongo ya Mgungu.3 (“Korongo” is swahili for a gully or ravine.)
The chimps were located at the base of a cliff a couple hundred yards up the korongo. At this point the man-made trails vanished and we were bushwacking.
Advancing toward the base of the cliff.
We continued our advance polepole along the korongo, with high hopes of seeing the chimps at any moment.
An Unexpected Setback and Detour
Suddenly Patrick’s radio crackled. He spoke Swahili with his colleague who was following the chimps. “Sokwe wanapanda juu ya korongo. Kaskazini.” Curt understood. The chimps were now on the move, climbing up a steep hillside to the north. Dang.
Patrick and Omari consulted and agreed that we should double back to a spot that was not quite as steep and risky. From there we would climb up to a trail that runs along the ridge to the north of the korongo. Hopefully we would then pick up the trail of the chimps.
This was quite disappointing. Having almost reached the chimps, we now faced a difficult climb (for us, at least) with no guarantee that we would be able catch up with the chimps.
Here we started our climb to the ridge. The buttressed fig tree is where the alpha male Fudge had drummed during a display a previous day. You can see from the worn sections where chimpanzees have pounded on the buttresses.
Even Patrick was having trouble with his footing..
A thick layer of dry leaves made the footing rather treacherous.
“You owe me a pearl necklace!”
We Find Some of Gremlin’s Family
We eventually made it to the trail on top of the ridge and took a breather. The trail led further uphill, and it was no slouch. After some fifty yards, we caught up with the tracker who had been with the chimps all morning. To our relief, the chimps had slowed down when they reached the ridge.
We could only see one of the chimps, a six-year old male named Goodali who was feeding very high up in a tree. Other chimps were rustling in the leaves in a dense thicket down the steep slope. One of them was probably Goodali’s mother, Gremlin (!), but it was too risky for us to descend into the thicket.
Here is Goodali, barely visible, feeding high up in a tree. The photo was taken with the full 83x optical zoom.
Patrick motioned for us to follow him up the trail where there were more chimps. After another five minute hike we found a large group of fellow tourists watching three chimps sitting just off of the trail.
Our friends the Scales had caught up with the chimps 15 minutes before us. Another group of six tourists (remember the boat that was already at the Kahama beach?) had been with the chimps for considerably longer.
The chimps were Gremlin’s adult daughter Glitter (age 28 years) with her daughters Gossamer (age 15 years) and Glori (age 4 years).
Four-year old Glori unexpectedly approaches one of the women on the trail and appears to touch her on the back. Glori scampers back to her mother when the woman starts to get up to move away.
Soon afterwards, the group of six tourists headed back toward their boat, having reached the daily maximum of one hour with the chimps. That left us with the Scales family, Patrick, and Omari watching these three chimps.
A Miraculous Encounter
Moments later, Patrick gave Arlene the fantastic news that Gremlin was coming up the trail! She watched in disbelief as the matriarch slowly and steady walked right toward her.
Patrick had an encanny sense of what to expect. He told Arlene exactly where to sit along the trail. Sure enough, Gremlin kept walking toward her, then she flopped on the ground just 10 yards away.
Not far behind Gremlin was her son Goodali and two of her grandchildren, Ghurubu (age 10 years) and Galleon (age 4 years). Ghurubu flopped on the ground next to Gremlin, while the two youngsters, Goodali and Galleon, played nearby.
Gremlin approaches us along the trail in a remote part of Kahama.
We had found Gremlin, but we were completely unprepared for what was about to happen. While Goodali was playing with Galleon, he suddenly looked over at Arlene – then his curiosity took over.
Goodali plays with Galleon, then suddenly breaks off the play session and walks right up to Arlene. He brushes her arm, then pirouettes back to Gremlin. Somehow, Curt has captured the entire sequence on his iPhone.
Goodali wasn’t done. Five minutes later he was playing with Ghurubu when his curiosity again took over.
Goodali plays with Ghurubu, then walks right up to Arlene and reaches out his hand. You can hear Curt saying – in Spanish and in English – not to touch him, while Patrick motions for Arlene to remain still. Goodali then looks around and selects a stick, which he offers to Arlene. This has to be Jane’s handiwork!
Not even Patrick nor Omari could believe what had just happened. Young chimps had approached tourists before – in fact, we had seen it earlier that morning with Glori – but not offering a “gift.”
Soon afterwards, our hour of time with the chimps had run out. We said goodbye to Gremlin and her family, hopefully not for the last time. After a grueling and challenging hike in search of the chimps, our morning had ended with a spectacular success and an unforgettable interaction – not just with a wild chimpanzee, but with Gremlin’s son!
Sweet dreams Gremlin. Thank you for sharing some peaceful time with us this morning. We look forward to seeing you in your upcoming BBC documentary, Matriarch, airing later this year.
Thank you Omari, Patrick, and Poppy
We are forever indebted to Patrick and Omari for their support, dedication, and encouragement during our arduous morning of hiking and climbing. And to Poppy Scales, who had the presence of mind to collect the stick that Goodali had offered to Arlene. It is a gift that she will always treasure.
Arlene shows off Goodali’s gift back in our trusty “cage” at the Mbali Mbali Gombe Lodge.
- Between 1974 and 1977, groups of male chimpanzees from Jane’s primary study community, Kasakela, periodically attacked and eventually eliminated the smaller Kahama community (sometimes referred to as the “four-year war”). Now, fifty years later, the Kasakela chimps – including Gremlin and her family – roam freely through the Kahama watershed, previous home to their rivals.
↩︎ - All of Curt’s photos and videos can be downloaded and used in accordance with the license agreement.
↩︎ - In 1969, American researcher Ruth Davis tragically fell from a cliff while following chimps at Gombe and lost her life. This was the same cliff where we were heading to look for the chimps on August 9, 2026.
Ruth’s story is told in the book The Ghosts of Gombe, by Jane’s biographer Dale Peterson, as well as on Curt’s web site in the story “The Ghost in White Pants.”
↩︎