Gombe National Park

Gombe National Park: Background Info

Gombe National Park is an incredibly rare adventure opportunity. Providing sanctuary to its unique wildlife and an oasis to all who visit, Gombe is home to the longest standing and most treasured chimpanzee research program in the world. It is also one of the most remote, authentic and romantic adventures in Africa.

Founded by the extraordinary Jane Goodall in the 1960s, much of what we know about chimpanzees today is a result of the research completed at Gombe. While the chimps are the main attraction, Gombe has much more to offer. Home to rolling green hills, towering trees, steep valleys and a thriving range of biodiversity – Gombe will leave you in awe from the moment you enter this wilderness wonderland.

Gombe National Park: Destination Preview

The Experience: Gombe National Park

Gombe is situated in the remote Tanzania jungles, on the banks of the second-largest freshwater lake in the world, Lake Tanganyika. Due to the remoteness of this National Park, it is only accessible by boat. Chimpanzee trekking in Gombe Streams National Park is one of the unique activities in Tanzania that travelers can get to experience, and come up-close with the chimpanzees, a primate species quite playful and noisy that you can hear them even while still a distance away from them. Gombe Stream National Park is one of the best places to see chimpanzees in the wild in East Africa, and indeed the best place to see chimpanzees in Tanzania.

Wildlife

Gombe Stream National Park is home to a variety of primates including a considerable population of chimpanzees among those that are fully habituated and can accommodate human interaction, as well as other primates including olive baboons, red-tailed monkey, diademed monkey, red colobus monkeys, as well as other animals like leopards, bushbucks, buffalo, waterbuck, barbet, palm-nut vulture, Forbes’ plover, Pere’s twin spot as well as the African Fish eagle among so many others.

Gombe’s high levels of diversity make it an increasingly popular tourist destination. Besides chimpanzees, primates inhabiting Gombe Stream national park include beachcomber olive baboons, red colobus, red-tailed monkeys, blue monkeys, and vervet monkeys. Red-tailed monkeys and blue monkeys also hybridize in the area. The park is home to over 200 bird species and bushpigs too. And you can find many species of snakes and occasionally hippos and leopards.

Birdlife

Gombe Stream has about 200 bird species listed. Most of them are forest birds, which are quite difficult to spot. Particularly since walking in the forest unguided is not allowed and the guided walks are focused on chimpanzees. The lakeshore is a good place to see fish eagles and palmnut vultures perched in the palm trees. Peter's twinspot, a normally elusive forest bird, is quite tame and easily spotted in the camp. Migratory birds are present from November to April.

The birdlife in Gombe Stream is good year-round, but at its best from November to April when the migratory birds from Europe and northern Africa are present. At this time, many resident bird species are nesting and are in breeding plumage. From March to April the rains can make birding difficult because forest trails become slippery. Chimp trekking is better in the Dry season, from June to October, since they are easier to find.