Nature Poses Its Own Set of Challenges
Danger aside, there are some shoots that are more challenging than others. Eszterhas recalled one particular experience with chimps where she woke up with a tick in her nose one morning and a beetle in her nose another morning. The bugs were only the beginning though. She also got chased by a green mamba snake and was charged by an alpha male chimpanzee, who smacked her as he went by.
Carrying gear while keeping up with the animals wasn’t exactly easy in this case either, as the chimps lived in a hilly, steep, and wet areas in dense jungles. At one point when she running, Eszterhas fell in a hole and twisted her ankle, and months later found out that she had broken a bone in her foot. She joked that it was like a boot camp.
“I always have emotional and mental clarity at the end of those,” Eszterhas said, adding, “I think nature is a great healer and so are animals.”
