Gombe Stream National Park is one of the few ecosystems of Tanzania to find chimpanzees they live within the ecosystem in large numbers, it was gazette as a national park in 1968 following its fame from research that was conducted by Jane Goodall a renowned primatologist who flagged the realization of how important it is to protect homes to great apes. It is Tanzania’s smallest protected conservation area covering an area space of approximately 52 square kilometres, the growing lush freeman forest straddling along the banks of Lake Tanganyika is a habitat to not only chimpanzee but also other primates species including blue tailed monkeys, red Colobus monkeys, olive baboons, vervet monkeys and bush babies.
Gombe National Park can be visited any time of the year depending on what they have to do on this list, trips to the national park can be combined with those of the southern conservation area, for example, the Ruaha National Park, Mikumi National Park, although these are often shadowed by the northern circuit, parks the famous Serengeti together with the Tarangire national park, Ngorongoro crater region and Lake Manyara national park.
The best time to visit Gombe Stream National Park is during the dry season between the months of December-February and June-September it is during this time that the weather conditions are favourable and routes are much easier to access, it tends to be a fruiting time, and one of the best times to do chimpanzee tracking, the activity involves hiking and passing through the forest hence would be better in the dry season, the wet season in the other end can be visited however expect more challenging hikes and slippery trails, it comes with magnificent thick forest and discounts from accommodation facilities.
Things to do while in Gombe Stream National Park include Chimpanzee tracking which takes place beginning at the park headquarters with a briefing from the park rangers, on the rules and regulations of how to conduct yourself while with the primates, depending on how far the primates have moved it takes 2-3 hours doing the activity you will be able to know the behaviour of chimpanzees and how they live in the wild. Birding in Gombe National Park, there are over 200 species of birds have been recorded in the national park to date. Guided nature walks, visiting Lake Tanganyika among other things to do while in the national park.
Getting to Gombe Stream National Park can be by road from the main towns of Arusha, Dar-es-salaam, or Moshi, it is a long drive and yet worth it to get to the national park although most travellers prefer to Fly to the destination, the nearest airstrip is in Kigoma. It is from here that a boat cruise is taken to the national park and this is the only way to get here. There is available accommodation in the national park ranging from the best budget to luxury, example facilities include Gombe Forest Lodge, Jane Goodall camp, and MbaliMbali Lodge, to mention a few.