How was Jane able to go to Africa and study chimpanzees?
From childhood, Jane wanted to go to Africa to live among animals and write about them. Her family was not wealthy, and Jane’s dream was an unconventional one for a girl at that time. But Jane’s mother always told her that if she tried hard enough and believed in herself, she would find a way. In 1956, a close friend named Marie-Claud (know as ‘Clo’) Mange invited her to Kenya. To earn money for her fare to and from Africa, Jane quit her job, moved back home, and became a waitress. That summer she “worked herself to the bone.” Finally, in 1957, Jane embarked on her ocean voyage to Kenya. Once there, she met famed anthropologist and archeologist Louis S.B. Leakey. He hired Jane as an assistant/secretary, and eventually asked if she would be interested in studying a group of wild chimpanzees in Tanzania.
From childhood, Jane wanted to go to Africa to live among animals and write about them. Her family was not wealthy, and Jane’s dream was an unconventional one for a girl at that time. But Jane’s mother always told her that if she tried hard enough and believed in herself, she would find a way. In 1956, a close friend named Marie-Claud (know as ‘Clo’) Mange invited her to Kenya. To earn money for her fare to and from Africa, Jane quit her job, moved back home and became a waitress. That summer she “worked herself to the bone.” Finally, in 1957, Jane embarked on her ocean voyage to Kenya. Once there, she met famed anthropologist and archeologist Louis S.B. Leakey. He hired Jane as an assistant/secretary, and eventually asked if she would be interested in studying a group of wild chimpanzees in Tanzania.
