Gombe Stream
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Gombe Stream National Park is a mountainous narrow strip of country about 5km wide which runs along the edge of Lake Tanganyika in the west of Tanzania. Its mountain range forms the edge of the Great Rift Valley Escarpment.
At only 52 sq km, Gombe is the smallest National Park in Tanzania, but one of the most famous as this is one of few National Parks set aside for chimpanzees. Here in Gombe Stream National Park the world renowned research centre where Dr Jane Goodall and her colleagues began to study chimpanzees in 1960 was established.
However Jane is no longer there, and land encroachment is severely threatening the chimps' living space. If seeing chimpanzees is your aim, then it may be better to focus instead on the Mahale Mountains Park.
For historical enthusiasts though, Ujiji near Kigoma, is also the place where Henry Stanley uttered his famous greeting: “Dr Livingstone I presume”.
Wildlife Highlights:
The principal reason for visiting Gombe Stream National Park is, of course, to see chimpanzees in their natural habitat.
The thick forests of the valley and lower slopes of the mountains, and the open deciduous woodland on the upper slopes are the few places that chimps can still be found in their natural habitat. They live in families and travel in very large groups. The groups usually meet where there is plenty of food and water.
In addition vervet and colobus monkeys, baboons, forest pigs and small antelope inhabit the dense forest, together with a wide variety of tropical birdlife, including hornbills, kingfishers and the crowned eagle
Getting to Gombe Stream:
Gombe Stream National Park is located 16 km north of Kigoma, on the sandy shores of Lake Tanganyika. Access is by boat only from either Kigomo or Ujiji.
Kigoma is connected to Dar and Arusha by scheduled flights, to Dar and Mwanza by a slow rail service, to Mwanza, Dar and Mbeya by rough dirt roads, 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.
The chimps don't roam as far in the wet season (February-June and November-mid December) so may be easier to find at these times. However better picture opportunities are found in the dry season (July-October and late December).
