Jane Goodall, among earth’s leading biologists, who did research on chimpanzees in the region through the 1960s made famous Gombe Stream National Park. Goodall found the genetic connection between humans and chimpanzees. There are about 100 chimpanzees as well as other primates abound including baboons, red-tailed red colobus monkeys, blue monkeys, and monkeys. The park is reachable but the chimps are easier to see through the dry season from June to September.

About Gombe Stream National Park

Size: 52 sq km (20 sq miles), Tanzania’s smallest park.
Location: 16 km (10 miles) north of Kigoma on the shore of Lake Tanganyika in western Tanzania.

Getting there
Kigoma is connected to Dar and Arusha by scheduled flights, to Dar and Mwanza by slow rail service, to Mwanza, Dar, and Mbeya by rough dirt roads, and to Mpulungu in Zambia by a weekly ferry.
From Kigoma, local lake taxis take up to three hours to reach Gombe, or motorboats can be chartered, taking less than one hour.

What to do
Chimpanzee trekking; hiking, swimming, and snorkelling;
visit the site of Henry Stanley’s famous “Dr. Livingstone I presume” at Ujiji near Kigoma, and watch the renowned dhow builders at work.

When to go
The chimps don’t roam as far in the wet season (February-June, November-mid December) so may be easier to find;
better picture opportunities in the dry (July-October and late December).

Accommodation
A new luxury tented lodge, as well as a self-catering hostel, guest house, and campsites on the lakeshore.