Gombe is the smallest of Tanzania’s national parks, situated on the western Tanzania border with Congo. Home to the renowned Kasakela chimpanzees which live within a fragile strip of chimpanzee habitat straddling the steep slopes and river valleys that hem in the sandy northern shore of Lake Tanganyika. Gombe offers the opportunity to see chimpanzees accustomed to seeing human visitors. These chimpanzees were made famous by the pioneering work of Jane Goodall, who lived in her dream world of Gombe national park, and who in 1960 founded a behavioural research program that now stands as the longest-running study of its kind in the world. Gombe also offers more adventurous tourists the opportunity to hike, swim, and take part in traditional dhow (carved-out wooden boats) building.
Gombe is a park without roads; it can only be reached by plane, water taxi or motor boat, making it a perfect place to get out and stretch your legs as you seek to spot some of the park’s native inhabitants in their natural habitats. Beside chimpanzees, the park is also home to a number of other primate species including the beachcomber olive baboons, bush babies, Vervet and red colobus monkeys. Baboons, forest pigs and small antelopes inhabit the dense forest, in addition to a wide variety over 200 species of tropical birds and 11 species of snakes. There are also hippos, ands crocodiles within the park.
Birdwatchers will be particularly fascinated by the park, whose forest offers an opportunity to spot and watch a cross-section of East African grassland birds and West African forest species.
