Gombe Stream national park is one of the smallest national parks in Tanzania, with only 13.5 square miles (35km 2) of protected land along the hills of the eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika, the park is located in Kigoma region, in western Tanzania 10 miles (16km) north of Kigoma, the capital of Kigoma Region, the park was established in 1968.
Gombe Stream National Park terrain is distinguished by steep valleys, and the vegetation ranges from grassland to woodland to tropical rainforest, the park is most famous because this is where the location Jane Goodall pioneered her behavioral research conducted on the chimpanzee populations, that is the Kasekela Chimpanzee Community (spelled Kasakela in earlier publications) featured in several books and documentaries, lives in Gombe National Park.
Attractions in Gombe Stream National Park.
Wildlife.
Gombe Stream National Park has a variety of wildlife besides the chimpanzees, the park has the beachcomber olive baboons, red colobus, red tailed monkeys, blue monkeys and vervet monkeys. Red-tailed monkeys and blue monkeys have also been known to hybridize in the area, other animals in the park includes the bush pigs, snakes, occasional hippopotami, leopards and many others.
Chimpanzees.
Chimpanzees are the major attraction in the park, in which they share 98% of their genes with humans, and no scientific expertise is required to distinguish between the individual repertoires of pants, hoots and screams that define the celebrities, the powerbrokers and the supporting characters. Perhaps you will see a flicker of understanding when you look into a chimp’s eyes, assessing you in return a look at apparent recognition across the narrowest of species barriers.
Lake Tanganyika.
Lake Tanganyika is a big attraction in the park with the blue waters where the guests use it in swimming as well as snorkeling in the lake where there are almost 100 kinds of colorful cichlid fish.
Bird species.
Gombe Stream National Park has over 200 bird species where you can find Palmnut culture, peters twinspot, African fish eagle, crowned eagle, Ross’s turaco, double toothed barbet, African broadbill and among others.
Waterfalls.
In addition Gombe Stream National Park has an average off two to three waterfalls with the major Kakombe waterfalls situated on the steeply forested Rift Valley escarpment, the falls are incredibly lovely and tumbling hundreds of feet down lushly carpeted rock faces, after dusk, a dazzling night sky is complemented by the lanterns of hundreds of small wooden boats, bobbing on the lake like a sprawling city.
Activities done in Gombe Stream National Park.
Chimpanzee Trekking.
Chimpanzee trekking is the major tourist activity done in Gombe Stream National Park, the park is great place to see the chimpanzees up close and on the personal encounter as many of the family groups are habituated to humans, walking up the hilly forested slopes to the primate territories is the undoubted highlight of any guest to the park because of instant pant hoot calls of chimps as you come closer within meters to these incredible primates, their instantly recognizable pant hoot call birds the excitement as you are likely to come within meters of these incredible animals sharing 98% of their DNA with humans.
There is a feeling of understanding as you make eye contact, almost as if you are both pieces of knowledge of the thin border between the two of you, and being a primates territory you can encounter with other primates like the monkeys which can be viewed while swinging around forest canopies thus making themselves excited and magnificent experience with the chimpanzees, baboons, some reptiles, bush pigs, elephants and among others.
Swimming.
Swimming is feeling of the adventure in Lake Tanganyika, after other activities in the park like the chimpanzee trek, and long walks in the park, a guest may decide to swim and snorkel through the waters, watch different colorful fish species and also sport fishing can be offered with an experienced fishing guide.
Bird watching.
Bird watching is another exciting of the tourist activities done in the park, bird watchers will be particularly be fascinated by the park’s extraordinary birdlife through the guided nature walks in its forests that offer over 200 species of birds with a cross section of East Africa grassland birds and West African forest species.
Game Viewing.
Gombe Stream national park, besides chimpanzee trekking there are other species to enjoy while being in the park, such as Vervet and colobus monkeys, baboons, forest pigs, small antelopes, besides various tropical birdlife and many others during the game viewing in the park.
Hiking.
The Park is a great place in the wilderness without the roads, which makes it to be the best tourist attraction, here the guests usually moves around in the park by stretching their legs by climbing the steep slopes forested with simple vegetation to hike through, the guests can also hike to Dr Livingstone’s campsite which was also Jane Goodall’s first place for his foundation and this will give you the best rewards about various park’s inhabitants to their animals.
Boat Rides.
Lake Tanganyika in the Gombe Stream national park has the most attractive blue waters which favors the tourists to enjoy the wooden boat and get to explore this large lake with its habitants which are over 100 colorful fish species.
Where to stay in Gombe Stream national park.
Accommodations in the park though they are limited, it’s in different levels of safari accommodation experiences ranked by imperative indicators like location, exclusivity, size of the lodge or camp, service, cuisine amenities eco-awareness, ambient life, most of the accommodation are the mid-range scaled camps like the Mbali Mbali lodge, Gombe Bandas, camping sites and among others.
Best time to visit Gombe Stream national park.
The park is visited on most of the year, however the wet season, from November to April, is a preferable time to be at the park. The access is difficult and trekking is slippery. Besides the lodges find March and April is a good time for maintance.
Entrance fees in Gombe Stream national park.
| Category | JULY –JUNE | ||
| EA( Tshs) | Non EA Citizen (USD) | Expatriate/ Residents(USD) | |
| Of above the age of 16 years | 10,000 | 100 | 50 |
| Between the age of 5 and 15 years | 2000 | 10 | 10 |
| Children below the age of 5 years | Free | Free | Free |
How to get to Gombe Stream national park.
The park can be accessed by both the road and the Air means of transport from Kigoma up to the park.
By Air transport.
Kigoma is connected to Dar and Arusha by the scheduled flights, to Dar and Mwanza by a slow rail service to Mwanza, Dar and Mbeya by rough dirty roads, and to Mpulungu in Zambia by a weekly ferry.
By Road transport.
From Kigoma, local lake-taxis take up to three hours to reach Gombe, or motorboats can be chartered taking less than one hour.
The Park protects the jungle habitat that supports the chimpanzees and other primate species that live in the area, also the protected area also invests in the ground-breaking work of Jane Goodall who revolutionized our understanding of primate species. Visit Gombe stream national park and get the most thrilling unique adventure safari in Tanzania.
