Gombe is the smallest of Tanzania’s National Parks; a fragile strip of chimpanzee habitat straddling the steep slopes and river valley’s that hem in the sandy northern shore of Lake Tanganyika.  Its chimpanzee

S, habituated to human visitors, were made famous by the pioneering work of Jane Goodall, who in 1960 founded a behavioral research program that now stands as the longest running study of its kind in the world.  The matriarch Fifi, the last surviving member of the original community, only three years old when Goodall first set foot in Gombe, is still seen by visitors.

Chimpanzee’s share about 98% of their genes with humans, and no scientific expertise is required to distinguish between individual repertories of pants, hoots, and screams that define the celebrities, the powerbrokers, and the supporting characters.

The most visible of Gombe’s other mammals are also primates.  A troop of beachcomber olive baboons, under study since the 1960’s, red tailed and red Colobus monkeys, the later regularly hunted by chimps, stick to the canopy’s.

The park’s 200 odd bird species range from iconic fish eagle to the jewel like Peter’s twinspot that hop tamely around visitor centers.

The Gombe Park is only 20 square miles; its location is 10 miles north of Kigoma on the shore of Lake Tanganyika in western Tanzania.

To get there, there are scheduled flights from Dar es Salam and Arusha, there is also a slow rail service from Dar and Mwanza, from Dar and Mbeya a very rough road, and to Mpulungu in Zambia by a weekly ferry. 

From Kigoma, local lake taxis take up to three hours to reach Gombe or motorboats can be chartered, taking less than one hour.

What to do, chimpanzee trekking, hiking, swimming and snorkeling, visit the site of Henry Stanley’s famous Dr. Livingstone I presume, at Ujiji near Kigoma, and watch the dhow builders at work.

Best time to go, the chimps don’t roam far in the wet season, February-June, November to mid December, so may be easier to find.  Better picture opportunities in the dry July- October, and late December.

NOTE

Strict rules are in place to safeguard you and the chimps, allow at least two days to see them, this is not a zoo so there are no guarantee’s where they will be each day.

Accommodations are one new luxury tented lodge, as well as a self catered hostel, guest house and campsites on the lakeshore.