Gombe Safaris

Gombe National Park is located on the northern shores of Lake Tanganyika, a 25-minute boat journey north of Kigoma.

The behaviour of the Gombe chimpanzees was the subject of groundbreaking research by Jane Goodall, research that has brought the park to worldwide attention. Interestingly though, it still receives surprisingly few safari holiday visitors, perhaps due to its remote location. Yet it's well worth venturing here to go chimpanzee trekking in Gombe. There are well over 100 chimpanzees in the park, living in three different communities. The largest of these is the Kasekela group, which consists of about 45 individuals. The group is habituated to humans and the chimps go about their business oblivious to the presence of the walkers – providing one of the most rewarding wildlife experiences in the world. Another great place to go chimpanzee trekking is Kibale Forest in Uganda.

Other common primates in Gombe include vervet monkeys, red-tail and blue monkeys, olive baboons and the red colobus. The lake shore provides good opportunities to look for some of the park’s 200 bird species including the normally elusive Peters’ Twinspot, which is frequently seen here.