Gombe Stream National Park is located 20 km north of Kigoma on the eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika. Gombe is the smallest national park in Tanzania, with only 52 sq km of forest hills and beachfront. This is where Jane Goodall conducted her years of chimp research.
Gombe Stream is one of the best places in Africa to track chimpanzees. First researched in the 60's by Jane Goodall, the primates are remarkably habituated. The project now ranks as the world’s longest running study of any wild animal population. The experience is one that you are unlikely to forget.
Gombe Stream National Park Highlights
Gombe Stream National Park is located in western Kigoma Region, Tanzania, 20 km north of Kigoma. Established in 1968, Gombe is the smallest national park in Tanzania, with only 52 sq km of forest running along the hills of the eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika. It is located only 100km north of Mahale Mountains National Park and is accessible only by boat.
The terrain is distinguished by steep valleys, and the forest vegetation ranges from grassland to alpine bamboo to tropical rainforest. Gombe Stream is best known as the place where Jane Goodall did her pioneering studies on chimpanzees, beginning in the 1960s and continuing until this day. It's one of the two places in Tanzania for a chimpanzee safari.
The chimps don't roam as far in the wet summer season so may be easier to find on walks and hikes through the forest. It might be better to visit between February and June, or during November and December when there is a higher likelihood of being able to observe the chimps while they are less active. There are no guarantees, but most guests allow 2 days for a chimpanzee safari.
Gombe's chimps are the main attraction, but the park is also home to a troop of habituated olive baboon that can usually be found on the lakeshore. There are several other monkey species present, including red colobus monkey, which are sometimes hunted by the chimps.
Mystery Gorilla Safaris Says
Gombe Stream is most famous as the place where Jane Goodall conducted her pioneering studies on chimpanzees, which began in the 1960s and continue to the present day.
The scenery in Gombe is stunning, with most of the 16 major valleys containing swift streams that flow all year. The lush rainforest makes for a beautiful hiking environment, while lakeshore and clear water offer good beach activities.
Guests visiting the chimps will endure some steep and reasonably challenging hikes and walks, so it is recommended that one use their own discretion to asses their level of fitness before embarking on this trip.
The park succeeds as a small, isolated ecosystem surrounded by distinct boundaries, Lake Tanganyika and the Rift Valley Escarpment.
Aside from the chimps, other primates are often encountered. A troop of olive baboon, also under study since the 1960s, is exceptionally habituated, while red-tailed and red colobus monkey – the latter regularly hunted by chimps – stick to the forest canopy. One of the more secretive inhabitants of the forest is the bushpig.
Gombe Stream Game Viewing and Activities
Best known for its habituated chimpanzee population, Gombe Stream National Park provides visitors with a unique opportunity to witness these incredible primates (sharing 98% of our human DNA) in their natural habitat, being conserved and protected to sustain their fragile existence. After the invaluable work of Jane Goodall, who dedicated her life to the conservation of the Gombe Stream chimps from the 1960s, wildlife programmes have broadcast from within the park, frequently featuring one of the families that can be visited in the park today.
Besides chimpanzees, primates inhabiting Gombe Stream include beachcomber olive baboons, red-tailed monkeys and vervet monkeys.The park is also home to over 200 bird species, as well as providing a home to a vast number of bushpigs. There are 11 species of snakes, and also a number of hippos and leopards, as well as bushbuck, Palm-nut vultures and Fish eagles.
Truly biodiverse, Gombe Stream is an undiscovered paradise where visitors can trek into the forest to observe chimpanzees, or swim and snorkel in Lake Tanganyika with almost 100 kinds of colorful cichlid fish. Gombe Stream is the perfect place for a walking safari, allowing guests to cool off along the way with a dip in one of the many streams that dissect the park.
Trekking chimpanzees in Gombe National Park can be done throughout the year, but the odds of finding them quickly is better towards the end of the Dry season, from July to October. This is when the chimps tend to stick to the lower slopes. In the Wet season, it might take three to four hours to locate the chimps. The only private lodge in the park is closed in March-April.
How to Get There
Gombe is not the easiest or cheapest place to get to. The only way to get there is by boat from Kigoma town. Depending on your itinerary, you might book your international flight to Kilimanjaro International Airport (JRO) in Arusha town or Julius Nyerere International Airport (DAR) in Dar es Salaam.
In most cases, we'll pick you up from the airport or, if not, you can take a taxi.We'll also book your ongoing domestic flight to Kigoma Airport (TKQ) and will charter a private motorboat to Gombe. The boat trip takes less than an hour.
It is also possible to take a public motor boat or ‘lake taxi’ from Kigoma to the park. This trip takes about four hours.
Domestic Flights
Charter flights are usually booked by mystery Gorilla safaris as part of the tour package. Domestic flights to Kigoma can be booked with Air Tanzania.
Gombe Stream Seasons and Climate
The climate in Gombe is warm to hot and humid. Unlike the northern parks, the nights in Gombe are not cold but comfortable year-round. Daytime temperatures are around 26°C/79°F, and it cools down at night to around 16°C/61°F. The altitude in Gombe is varied, from 767 to 1,606m (2,516-5,269ft). This results in variations in climate within the park. Temperatures drop by about 6.5°C for every 1,000m you climb (or 3.5°F per 1,000ft). The area accessible to tourists is mostly at lower altitudes.
The Dry season is from May to October. Unlike the coastal areas and northern parks (which have two Wet seasons with a dry spell in between), Gombe has one continuous Wet season from November to April. It rarely rains all day, but afternoon thundershowers can be expected.
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