Gombe National Park

You actually get to use the fancy hiking boots you bought for the Tanzania trip. Chimps are awesome.

An unforgettable extraordinary experience with amazing animals

Gombe Stream National Park is mostly known for its chimpanzees and the research of world famous primatologist Jane Goodall. As the park is small and situated in forest in a hilly area you walk through the park with a guide. A day's hike will get you around the park and get you to see the chimpanzees from very close up. As they move around all the time it can take a while for an encounter, but the guides know the park and the behaviour of the animals very well and are therefore excellent at tracking them down. Seeing these animals in their natural habitat was an amazing and extraordinary experience! It's very fascinating, and quite indescribable. Definitely something to go experience yourself.

The scenery is beautiful, there are plenty of baboons and other monkeys, and the forest is right next to Lake Tanganyika. This is also how you reach the park: by boat from Kigoma. You can either enquire at the Jane Goodall Institute when a boat is going from there, or go to Kibirizi and take a local boat from there. This will take you up to the park in about 3 hours, regularly stopping at villages along the shore. This is definitely a great (local) experience and I would recommend to take one of those!

There are 2 places for accommodation in the park itself. Camping is not allowed, so there is no other option than that. There is a forest lodge and a (sort of) motel (it was still being build when I was there). Since there are usually not that many visitors in the park you can take your chances and just go, but if you want to be sure you can book beforehand. If you're for example staying in Kigoma in Nzimano Hotel (highly recommended: lovely staff, great local food, quiet and peaceful, overlooking Kigoma bay), the staff there will be able to help you with bookings.

Kigoma can be reached by plane, but there is also a train going from Dar Es Salaam to Kigoma twice a week, which is well worth the trip. The train crosses the whole country, so you will have an amazing view of the country (it passes through the capital Dodoma, through the Uluguru mountains, over vast plains, and much more). I can very much recommend to take the train in Tanzania. Great experience!

Highlights of Kigoma: Gombe Stream National Park, local markets, Ujiji (where explorers Livingstone and Stanley met), Lake Tanganyika (with apparently an enormous range of unique fish), Amani Beach, Jacobson's Beach, MV Liemba (old German ferry going every week around Lake Tanganyika to Bujumbura(Burundi), Kalundu-Uvira(DR Congo) and Mpulungu(Zambia) and back to Kigoma), Katonga(small fishing village).

We were greeted by a whole Chimp family at the entrance of Gombe Stream, its was amazing, we also saw many baboons and other beautiful animals. In the evening we could watch a film about Jane Godall's first research and time there and talk to local stuff. Their meal was nice!

Amazing park and chimps, although The two hour journey by boat could be an adventure in case or bad weather.
Regarding the organisation: Don't book the luxury tents. I booked and paid for one and they didn't give me, as it was "already booked". I didn't get any type of refund. That's embarrassing.

Too beautiful

A world of beauty

Just a feedback. Your map of Gombe National Park on this website is completely wrong. It includes the site of Gombe Forest Lodge and the Kasekela tourist area, but the park boundary is utterly wrong it includes land east of the mountain ridge and beyond the road (wrong in both respects) and it misses-out all the valleys south of Kasekela until the park boundary just before Kazinga. I suggest you re-draw it please.

As an off the beaten track specialist, Gombe offered me one thing Chimps and Jane Goodall! Experiences i cant forget. Logistics is a night mare though fly and dont use the road at least into Kigoma am a local and take my word for it!

Gombe National Park

Gombe is beautiful, the scenery and waterfall very picturesque. If going, please know that the chimps do migrate and follow the food source. For example, when there in April, the chimps are at the top of the mountain. The hike is very strenuous and takes several hours. At other times of the year, the chimps are much lower in the mountains. The guides live and work there and are very knowledgeable. We were not able to see the chimps. But, visiting Jane Goodall's research center was very interesting.