Before Jane Goodall went to Africa, almost nothing was known about chimpanzees. Sitting alone in the wilds day in and day out, she won their trust -- and taught mankind about its closest relatives.

BY DOUGLAS CRUICKSHANK | "Doctor!" he cried, "I've just had a message from a cousin of mine ... They have heard of you, and beg you to come to Africa ..."
-- Chee-Chee, the monkey, reading a message delivered by a sparrow from "The Story of Doctor Dolittle," by Hugh Lofting (1920)

By the time I was 10 or 11, I had read all of the Doctor Dolittle books, and watched most of the old black-and-white Tarzan movies several times over. During those years I also carefully perused National Geographic each month for the same reason as every other boy my age: half-dressed native women. The photos of naked natives were a thrill, but it was the pictures of an ethereal-looking, fully clothed English woman surrounded by chimpanzees that ignited my first crush.

Unfortunately, things never really went anywhere with Jane Goodall and me. I wrote her a letter suggesting that I visit her (during which we'd presumably marry) just as soon as I finished fifth grade, but at the time the logistics of posting mail to the other side of the world were a bit more than I could manage. Now, decades later, it's a comfort to learn that we did share something: Our attraction to animals and life in the wild came from the same sources. "Even when I was very tiny," Goodall remembers, "I was absolutely fascinated by animals. I think I first began to dream of going to Africa after reading Tarzan and Doctor Dolittle."

Like Hugh Lofting's good doctor, Jane Goodall answered a calling, which she has continued to answer for nearly 40 years. In so doing she's led one of the 20th century's more remarkable lives, while becoming its most famous conservationist and the leading authority on chimpanzees, as well as the author of several books, including the classic "In the Shadow of Man." Stephen Jay Gould wrote that her research on chimps "represents one of the Western world's great scientific achievements." Yet her departures from conventional science have been as important as her contributions to it.

Her story is almost a legend. Born in London and raised in Bournemouth, England, Goodall financed her first trip to Africa in 1957 with money she earned working as a waitress. While there she arranged to meet Dr. Louis Leakey, the celebrated paleontologist and anthropologist. He was so impressed with Goodall's knowledge of African wildlife that he hired her on the spot as his assistant secretary. Soon after, during an expedition to Olduvai Gorge, they began discussing a study of the chimpanzees that lived near Lake Tanganyika, and the sort of person Leakey had in mind to undertake such research. "I want someone unbiased by academic learning," he said. "Someone with uncommon patience and dedication."

By 1960, Goodall was ready to establish a research camp at Gombe Stream Chimpanzee Reserve (now Gombe National Park) in Tanganyika (now Tanzania). In an autobiographical sketch on the Jane Goodall Institute Web site, she recalls her feelings at the time: "My childhood dream was as strong as ever ... to watch free, wild animals living their own, undisturbed lives. I wanted to learn things that no one else knew, uncover secrets through patient observation. I wanted to come as close to talking to animals as I could." And off she went.

Or so she thought. In fact, there was a hitch -- the first of many. The government authorities would not permit her to live in the remote area without a European companion. That was resolved, however, when another dauntless Goodall -- Jane's mother, Vanne -- offered to accompany her daughter for the first few months. The two then received news of a squabble among the local fishermen at Gombe and were asked to delay their arrival. No sooner were they cleared to proceed than they were again delayed, this time by an outbreak of violence in the Congo across Lake Tanganyika from the town of Kigoma. As daughter and mother waited in Kigoma for the rioting to subside in the Congo, the expense of a hotel depleted Jane's funds and they were forced to economize by camping on the grounds of the local prison. "Not as bad as it sounds," Goodall recalls, "since the grounds, which are beautifully kept, overlook the lake and at that time of year the citrus trees all around were groaning under the weight of sweet-smelling oranges and tangerines. The mosquitoes in the evening were terrible, though."

Maybe they were the same ones that brought the malaria to Jane and Vanne, or perhaps it was the mosquitoes at Gombe, which, after overcoming a host of other obstacles, they finally reached. In any case, the preceding doesn't begin to inventory the challenges Goodall faced before and after arriving at the reserve, but we do start to get a sense of just what an uncommon character she is: preternaturally optimistic, gently tenacious, a singular combination of toughness and tenderness, patience and perseverance, that has everything to do with what she was about to achieve.

N E X T_P A G E .|.Leopards wandering hither and thither, cobras slithering around her feet

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