The northern hills of the island currently have an abundance of fruits. The largest fruit is called Mpira or Saba comorensis. Saba c. has a hard outer casing which stops the worms from entering inside, you can chew the seeds but it tastes extremely sour and I haven’t managed to eat a whole one yet, although JL loves them.

These little fruits resemble apples both in appearance and taste. Their latin name is Parinari curatellifolia. I made a jam using them and bananas last month, and it was delicious. JP couldn’t get enough of it.

These smaller fruits are more palatable than mpira, from top to bottom you have Salacia sp., Carpolobia conradsiana, and Pancovia turbinata. Although Pancovia tends to have a lot of worms so you have to be careful when you try to eat one.

Above is Uvaria sp. which is very sweet.

I am excited to taste some of the other fruits which the chimps eat, but I’ll have to wait until next month when they ripen.

If you want to know more about the diet of Rubondo chimpanzees read Liza Moscovice’s article titled:

Fruit Availability, Chimpanzee Diet, and Grouping Patterns…, published in 2007, in AJP.