Gombe Stream National Park is known for its high concentration of chimpanzees in Tanzania, it is one of the few places in the country to encounter the primates, and it is the smallest of all the ecosystems covering an area space of approximately 52 Square kilometers, it is strategically located along the showers of Lake Tanganyika adjacent to the escarpment, it was made famous by the great research of the primatologist Jane Goodall who studied the behavior or chimpanzee and has since then left a track for other researchers of the world on chimpanzee character. It is one of the longest researches ever done.
Chimpanzees are the main reason for visits to the national park, these are believed to share up to 98% of the human DNA, besides chimpanzees, other primates in the national park include red colobus monkeys, vervet monkeys, blue monkeys, red-tailed monkeys, besides primates other animals that can be seen here are leopards, small antelopes, and bush pigs, to mention a few and over 200 species of birds example species that can be seen here include African harrier hawks, plover birds, barbets, eagles, pam nut vultures, among other bird types.
How to reach Gombe Stream National Park in 2 ways one can choose to Fly or go by road from the main towns or Tanzania and then take a boat from Kigoma, using air guests will be picked up from their international flights, and then your tour operator will proceed with booking domestic flights to Kigoma town on the nearest airstrip, there are scheduled flights or charter that fly every day to the national park, from Kigomba to Gombe national park is approximately 20 kilometres, and thereafter guests must take on the boat to the park. Domestic flights operating to the destination include Air Tanzania and PrecisionAir among others.
Alternatively, how to reach Gombe Stream National Park by guests driving around, passing through Arusha, the drive takes approximately 20 hours drive, through Dodoma, driving from Arusha is approximately 16 hours drive, the adventure while driving is worth the long distance passing through Angelic villages and towns, upon arrival guests are ushered to the boats for transfer to the home of a chimpanzee.
Gombe Stream National Park’s most done activity is the chimpanzee tracking through the rain forest the primates are tracked in the morning beginning at 8:00 am East African time, game drives in search of animal species that call this home, birding safaris, experience a boat cruise along the Lake Tanganyika. The park can be visited any time of the year but is best during the dry season between December -February and June -September when the trails are much drier and with an easy opportunity to participate in the activities. The wet season is perfect to visit as well just that it comes with so much difficulty.
There is available accommodation in the national park and around the surrounding areas ranging from the best budget to Luxury, Examples of facilities include MbaliMbali Gombe Lodge, Gombe bandas, Janda Lodge, and Lake Tanganyika Hotel among other facilities.