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!