Gombe National Park – The legacy of Jane Godall

Tanzania’s smallest national park with only about 50 square kilometers is located in the far west of the country, about 20 km north of Kigoma on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, near the border with Burundi. You can get to Kigoma with scheduled or charter flights from Arusha. Gombe can then be reached from Kigoma after a two- to three-hour boat ride.

Surely you have chosen the Gombe National Park to meet the representatives of the most famous great apes. In1960, the famous behavioural scientist Jane Goodall began her studies of the chimpanzees living there. Please keep in mind that you will be in the wilderness. Therefore, please strictly follow the instructions of the rangers; for your protection and that of chimpanzees. Since you do not always know the whereabouts of the animals, it can sometimes take two days until the first chimpanzee looks you in the eye. A moment you will never forget.

Unlike the national parks in the north of the country, the Gombe is ideal for hiking through tropical rainforest and grass savannahs because of the rarity of predators. In addition to chimpanzees, the landscape is the habitat for various other monkeys, hippos, leopards but also snake species and a variety of tropical birds.

In the rainy season (February to June, November to mid-December) the chimpanzees are less active and therefore easier to find. However, you will be able to take the better photos in the dry season (July to October and end of December). Since only about two thousand visitors travel to the Gombe every year, the tours are not overcrowded.