Helen's Blog /

"I can't believe it's been over 50 years since I first stepped foot in Gombi," explained Dr. Jane Goodall.

In introduction at the Pagode Cinema, in Paris, of German Director, Lorenz Knauer's new autobiographical film of the British paleontologist " Jane'S Journey", at a special screening of the Paris Environmental Film Festival, end November 2010. Still a sprightly world traveller over 70, she spends 300 days of the year criss-crossing the globe, lecturing, giving hope, promoting her youth organization " Roots and Shoots" and tending to her Jane Goodall Foundation, writing books and articles on ecology and preservation.

The film chronicles her youth in Bournemouth, England, and early determination to go to Africa and study wildlife species. The dream became a reality when she set off in her mid-twenties with her mother, to then-Tanganyika and began studying the paths of chimpanzees in the jungle. Lucky to meet the eminent anthropologist Louis Leakey, who was looking for someone without any formal education to study the chimps, she got a 6-month contract and set up camp, trying to establish contact with the primates and observe their behavior.

Before the 6 months ran out, she made the astonishing discovery that apes fashioned leaves to use them as tools, a discovery that enthralled Leakey who secured a grant from National Geographic quarterly, which sent in one of their best animal photographers from Kenya, where he was on assignment, to assist Jane in documenting her findings.

Hugo, Baron Van Lawick, also in his twenties then, was an outstanding wildlife cinematographer with an impressive record of photography and documentaries to his credit. Born in Indonesia, to noble Dutch parents, he spent most of his life living and working outside that country, having lived in Australia, Britain, and of course, Africa throughout his lifetime.

Hugo, since his youth, was also fascinated with animals but especially with photography and this complemented Jane's activities nicely, since he had become the best filmer of Natural Life.

In 1959 he was a stills and cinema cameraman for Dutch film companies on location in Kenya.

By 1962, he was covering East Africa for the National Geographic Society. When Hugo went to work at the the Gombe Reservation in Tanzania to register some of the amazing discoveries that Jane Goodall had made during her study of chimpanzees, their creative relationship soon turned into a romantic involvement and marriage. One of Hugo's most delightful rushes pictures a long-legged beautiful young Jane being chased around a tree by a chimp. Hugo also filmed the lives of three generations of chimpanzees and produced the feature film "People of the Forest".

Among the many works he made with his wife was a film about their son Hugo Eric Jr., nicknamed "Grub", who was born and grew up in the jungle "Grub, the Bush Baby".

"He came along just at the right time", conceded Jane, "and was a marvelous person." Unfortunately, the marriage ended in divorce for different reasons. For Jane, it was partly due to money and the different uses each had for it. A mutual friend relates in the film, that their characters were too opposed: "Hugo was a gregarious, outgoing person who loved to entertain. He would come back from Nairobi bringing all the luxuries in tow: champage etc.. And he liked to have a good time, while Jane was more frugal and reserved - in fact, she was actually a very shy person".

According to Jane, Hugo was also a very jealous husband: "As long as we were out in the bush all day in Gombi or Serengeti, working together, it was alright, but as soon as we came back to the camp, he couldn't stand my talking to people. He wouldn't even let me have any female friends. He was very insecure."

For more than thirty years Hugo van Lawick lived and worked in the African plains. He was later made an Honorary Citiwen of Tanzania with a monument to honor him. His work on the behavior of many species in Africa was pioneer: golden jackals, hyenas, leopards and, of course, chimpanzees. After he passed away in 1992 in Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, a Foundation for Wildlife was set up in his name. Their son Hugo Eric, has made his life in Tanzania, first running a commercial crayfish export commerce and recently, turning to ecological tourism. From her only son, Jane has three grandchildren.

After the divorce, Jane married the Director of National Park of Tanzania and became a widow a second time in the seventies. Since then she has devoted herself entirely to her work and conservation of animal species in Africa and world lecture tours.