I didn’t want to marry, desired to live with animals: Jane Goodall

Jane Goodall's chimpanzee. At a young age, Jane was always fascinated by the natural wonder that is the Africa continent’s wildlife. [File, Standard]

When Dr Jane Goodall was invited to the stage last week, the world-renowned conservationist dashed with the agility of a 20-year-old.

Goodall is 84, and her mind is as sharp as ever.

Dino Martins, a Kenyan entomologist based in Laikipia invited Goodall to Nairobi to showcase her exploits in conservation through her latest movie, Jane, made out of a footage shot by Hugo Van Lawick in Gombe National Park, Tanzania in the 60s but was lost in the vast underground archive facilities of the National Geographic near the American City of Pittsburgh.

In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Standard last week, she reminisced over her love affair with African wildlife, remembering every detail as if it had all happened a day earlier.

She speaks about her love affair with chimps, falling in love with Van Lawick, a National Geographic filmmaker and her current push to involve children in conservation through her Roots and Shoots initiative.

Boat ride

As a ten-year old girl growing up in England, she dreamed of coming to Africa, fascinated by the natural wonder that is the continent’s wildlife.

“I was born in a humble family that had no money for university education. I never wanted to get married but desired to live with animals in Africa,” she says. Her love for animals began when she was only one year old, when her father gave her a toy chimpanzee in honour of a baby chimp born at the London zoo.

In 1956, one of her family friends invited her to visit the family farm in Kenya.

That invite was the turning point in her life. Immediately, Goodall quit her job in London and went back to her Bournemouth home where she worked as a waitress to save enough for the boat ride to Kenya.

In April the following year, Goodall made the trip of her lifetime to the East African country. It is here that she met one of the world’s leading anthropologist and paleontologist, Louis Leakey and his family.

“Leakey suggested I work for him in studying chimpanzees in Gombe, Tanzania. I told him I had no university education, but he told me he was looking for someone with an open mind,” recalls Goodall.

Her early exploits with the chimps were opposed by British authorities who could not fathom the idea of a young English girl spending all her time with wild animals in the ‘Dark continent’.

That was until they agreed to accompany her for the first three months. Her study of the chimps is the world’s longest unbroken study of any animal in the world.

Goodall says chimps are so intelligent that they can decipher 600 signs used by the deaf people in America.

Her studies revolutionised study in animal behaviour and she was enrolled as a PhD candidate at Cambridge University in 1962, one of the few people to study for a doctorate without a degree.

She graduated three years later. Though marriage and family life were not in the cards, she fell in love, and was married to Hugo but divorced a decade later.

Goodall’s work in the Great Lakes region has earned her dozens of awards; her current battle is against habitat loss.

“Population growth in Africa and habitat loss pose the greatest threat to wildlife survival. It is true we need enhanced infrastructure but this should not be done at the expense of the wildlife,” she says.

Stem the tide

Goodall, who has written several books, hopes to stem the tide by educating people from kindergarten to university level through her Roots and Shoots initiative.

“Every person makes a difference. Roots and Shoots is my contribution to tomorrow’s world. We must save what the rest of the world has lost for future generations,” she adds.