wildlife

Amanka is a word from one of the languages used by people living in the rural north west of Uganda. It’s a beautiful, rich word that means ‘family’. Yet, in the forests and villages of this part of Uganda – and across much of tropical Africa and Asia – families are at war. In the narrowing margins between forest and farm, human and non-human, there is a growing conflict. A deadly conflict.

Stany Nyandwi’s gift for communicating with chimpanzees is so special that world-renowned primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall calls him the “chimpanzee whisperer.” His skills and devotion to these creatures—our closest living relatives, with whom we share 98.7 percent of our DNA—have earned him international awards and sent him on travels within Africa and around the world. But he began life in poverty, born and raised in a dirt-floor, straw-roofed hut in rural Burundi. The Chimpanzee Whisperer is the story of his astonishing life journey.