Gombe Stream National park is located on the shores of Lake Tanganyika in the Northern Kigoma region in Western Tanzania. It is the smallest National park in Tanzania and was established in 1968. Gombe is one of the two parks in Tanzania where Chimpanzees can be found.
The park’s terrain is steep, and the vegetation forest varies from grassland, woodland to tropical rainforest. The park is famous because of Jane Goodall’s behavioural research that was conducted on Chimpanzees here. Jane Goodall is a primatologist who spent several years in Gombe Stream National park studying these beautiful primates. Gombe Stream National park is a home to the Kasakela Chimpanzee Family that featured in Jane Goodall’s various books and documentaries. Despite being small, the park has a good mix of landscapes covered with grasslands and evergreen steep slopes. There are no roads in the park meaning it can only be accessed on foot.
Species diversity:
Apart from Chimpanzees, Gombe Stream National Park also harbours other primates like the red-tailed monkeys, olive baboons, vervet monkeys and the blue monkeys. Over 200 species of birds such as jewel-like Peter’s twinspots, African fish eagle, African Paradise Flycatcher, among others.
Size and accessibility:
The National Park covers an area of 52 square Kilometres and is the smallest among the National parks in Tanzania.
By car:
The roads are rough and can be impassable mainly during the wet season, so a 4WD vehicle is a must have. You will need about 2 to 3 days to travel from Arusha to Kigoma. From Kigoma to Gombe, you use a speed boat which takes about 4 to 5 hours.
By air:
The quickest way to access Gombe is via a flight to Kigoma and then a boat to the park.
Activities:
Chimpanzee tracking
Bird watching
Guided bush walks
Boat rides
Swimming
Kayaking
Cultural visits to Mwamgongo village
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