Gombe Stream Preserve By Malasons Tanzania Safaris & Tours Ltd
Size: 52 sq km (20 sq miles), Tanzania’s smallest park.
Location: 16 km (10 miles) north of Kigoma town on the shore of Lake Tanganyika in western Tanzania.
Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania's smallest, is a fragile strip of chimpanzee habitat straddling the steep slopes and river valleys that hem in the sandy northern shore of Lake Tanganyika. The park, located on the western border of Tanzania and the Congo, is most famous for Jane Goodall, the resident primatologist who spent many years in its forests studying the behaviour of the endangered chimpanzees. Goodall, who in 1960 founded a chimpanzee behavioural research program, pioneered the study of chimpanzees that has forever changed our knowledge of these incrediable species, who share 98 percent of their genes with human beings. Many visitors to the Gombe Stream preserve regularly seem the matriarch Fifi, the last surviving member of the original community, only three-years old when Goodall first set foot in Gombe.
Wildlife
Safaris to Gombe Stream preserve have a main attraction -the chimpanzee communities that live protected in the park’s boundaries, is essential. Aside from chimpanzee tracking and viewing, many other species of primates live in Gombe Stream’s tropical forests. Vervet and colobus monkeys, baboons, forest pigs and small antelope inhabit the dense forest, in addition to a wide variety of tropical birdlife. The park's 200-odd bird species range from the iconic fish eagle to the jewel-like Peter's twinspots that hop tamely around the visitors' centre.
How To Get There
Kigoma town is connected to Dar es Salaam and Arusha Town 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 Stream, or motorboats can be chartered, taking less than one hour.
What To Do
A Gombe Stream safari highlighted by chimpanzee tracking, game viewing, mountain hiking, swimming and snorkelling; visit the site of Henry Stanley's famous “Dr Livingstone I presume” at Ujiji near Kigoma town and watch the renowned dhow builders at work.
When To Go
The chimps don't roam as far in the wet season (February-June, November-mid December) so may be easier to find: better picture opportunities in the dry (July-October and late December).
Accommodation
1 new luxury tented safari lodge, as well a self-catering hostel, guest house and campsites on the lakeshore.
NOTE
Strict rules are in place to safeguard you and the chimps. Allow at least 2 days to see them - this is not a zoo so there are no guarantees where they'll be each day.
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