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Gombe Stream National Park

Gombe national park Tanganyika tanzania
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Welcome to Gombe Stream National Park

The insider's travel guide to Gombe Stream National Park

Gombe is Africa's most famous chimp trekking destination.

It was here, in the early 1960s, that the celebrated English primatologist Jane Goodall established a pioneering research and habituation project now cited as the world’s oldest ongoing study of wild animals. A relatively small park, Gombe supports roughly 100 chimps split between three different communities. It has a beautiful location on the forested eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika – the world’s longest, second deepest and reputedly least polluted major freshwater body – and is sufficiently isolated that it seldom gets busy.

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The Gombe Stream National Park atlas

1 picks Places & Experiences You Won't Find Elsewhere
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  • Gombe is Africa's most famous chimp trekking destination. It was here, in the early 1960s, that the celebrated English primatologist Jane Goodall established a pioneering research and habituation project now cited as the world’s oldest ongoing study of wild animals. A relatively small park, Gombe supports roughly 100 chimps split between three different communities. It has a beautiful location on the forested eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika – the world’s longest, second deepest and reputedly least polluted major freshwater body – and is sufficiently isolated that it seldom gets busy. Pros: If you want to see chimps hunting red colobus or other monkeys, Gombe is where you probably stand the best chance. Gombe is an attractive option for independent travellers with plenty of time and a limited budget. Inexpensive lake-taxis run back and forth daily from the port of Kigoma, which is connected to Tanzania’s largest city Dar es Salaam by flights, trains and buses. Cons: Because it is relatively small at 52 sq km, Gombe lacks the dramatic wilderness feel of its southerly near neighbour Mahale Mountains.

  • Independent chimp trekking in Gombe

    Independent chimp trekking in Gombe

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Dispatches

Guides & field notes
Decolonising African travel—and travel writing
Article

Decolonising African travel—and travel writing

Mazuba Kapambwe
Mazuba Kapambwe

Travel writing in Africa has always been an overwhelmingly white affair. Early accounts from 19th century explorers like Henry Morton Stanley and fiction writers like Joseph Conrad depicted Africa as uncivilised, mysterious and barbaric, reflecting the racist attitudes that underpinned European empire building.
The best safaris in Tanzania
Guide

The best safaris in Tanzania

Philip Briggs
Philip Briggs

Tanzania's big-ticket park is the 12,000-square-mile Serengeti, home to the great wildebeest migration and a healthy population of big cats: lions, leopards and cheetahs. During peak season— July and August—when the famous wildebeest river crossings coincide with northern hemisphere summer holidays, the park can be very busy.
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