Gombe National Park

Location: Kigoma District, Kigoma Region, Tanzania

Area: 52 sq. km (20 sq. miles)

Overview

Gombe National Park the smallest park in Tanzania, established in 1968, with only 35 km² (13.5 sq. mi) and 16km (10mi) north of Kigoma, the capital of the Kigoma Region. The only protected land along the hills of the eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika, with a terrain distinguished by steep valleys, and vegetation that ranges from grassland to woodland to tropical rainforest.

This park is located on the western border of Tanzania and the Congo, most famous for Jane Goodall, the resident primatologist who spent years studying the behavior of the endangered chimpanzees. She founded a behavioral research program in 1960 that now stands as the longest-running study of its kind in the world.

The matriarch Fifi is the last surviving member of the original community, only three years old when Goodall first set foot in Gombe, a regular site by visitors. During the dry season, June to September is a good time to visit the park with little rain and humid warm weather with plenty of sunshine. Hiking and swimming are popular on the Gombe Stream an untamed place of lush forest and clear lake views, on the wild shore of Lake Tanganyika.

Kigoma is connected to Dar es Salaam and Arusha by scheduled flights one-way nonstop (direct) flight between Dar es Salaam and Kigoma takes around 2hr.2 hours and is accessible only by boat.  The park is famous as the location where Jane Goodall pioneered her behavioral research on the common chimpanzee populations.

Aside from the many chimpanzees, and primates, the park inhabits troops of beachcomber olive baboons, red colobus, red-tailed monkeys, blue monkeys, and Vervet monkeys.  The Red-tailed monkeys and blue monkeys are known to hybridize in the area.  Home to over 200 bird species, bushpigs, many species of snakes, occasional hippopotami, and African leopards.

The Uniqueness of this Park

• • Tanzania’s smallest national park.

• • The location where the scientific research and work of Jane Goodall with Chimpanzees and other primates.

• • Has only one Lodge in the park – Mbali Mbali Gombe Lodge.

Accommodation Options

• • Mbali Mbali Gombe Lodge (7 tents 1 Dbl, 6 Twin rooms)

Activities at the Destination

Chimpanzee trekking, hiking, swimming, snorkeling, Guided Walks, Bird Watching, Visit the site of Henry Stanley’s famous “Dr Livingstone I presume” at Ujiji near Kigoma, and watch the renowned dhow builders at work.