Google Street View Takes to Tanzania to Retrace the Footsteps of Jane Goodall

Google has teamed up with the Jane Goodall Institute to bring their Street View Trekker cameras to Gombe National Park in Tanzania, a place made famous by world-famous primatologist Jane Goodall and her research of the local chimpanzees.

Step by step, the Google Street View Trekker camera retraced the steps Goodall took during the 54 years she spent studying the social behavior of chimpanzees.

After capturing thousands of images, they were put together to allow us couch potatoes to explore this historical location ourselves, and meet the inhabitants who made Goodall’s work possible.

But Google didn’t stop at capturing the forest. The Street View team went the extra mile by giving us an inside look at Goodall’s home, as well as a number of her favorite locations around the area.

Google also shares the nearby areas that have been impacted by deforestation, which endangers these historical locations.

Goodall herself commented on the project, saying:

When I went to Gombe, I set out to observe and learn about the amazing chimpanzees who make their home there.  What I learned in my years of research at Gombe inspired and enriched me. I hope that your journey through this website and the Street View imagery takes you on a similar voyage of learning and discovery.

The imagery is available to the public, but also serves as a tool for research and education. Because Google put feet and cameras on the ground there, researchers now have a first-hand look at what the forests and the creatures that inhabit it currently look like. This information is invaluable now, and will no doubt be invaluable down the road as well.

If you’re ready to get lost in the forests of Gombe, head on over to the dedicated Goodall Street View site Google has set up by clicking here.

(via Engadget)