Seated by a fire on a cold Nairobi morning, nothing about Dr Jane Goodall tells you she’s hitting 80 or of her fame. Her face is fresh and glowing. Lithe of frame, she could easily pass for decades younger. When I ask the secret of her youthful looks, she says there’s no secret. I guess it all comes down to her decades-long passion — being close to nature with chimps in the forest.
Goodall’s name is synonymous with chimpanzees. When I read my first book on chimps years ago, it was by her, titled In the Shadow of Man. Published in 1971, it’s a classic and she’s authored several more, besides having published scientific papers.
