Gombe Stream National Park

Gombe Stream National Park is located in western Tanzania, 10 miles north of Kigoma, the regional capital of western Tanzania. Established in 1968, Gombe is the smallest national park in Tanzania, with only 20 square miles of forest running along the hills of the northern shore of Lake Tanganyika.

The terrain is distinguished by steep valleys, and the forest vegetation ranges from grassland to alpine bamboo to evergreen rainforest Accessible only by boat, the park is most famous as the location where Jane Goodall pioneered her behavioral research conducted on the chimpanzee populations.

Gombe Stream’s high levels of bio-diversity make it an increasingly popular tourist destination. Besides chimpanzees, primates inhabiting Gombe Stream include beachcomber olive baboons, red-tailed and colobus monkeys, vervet monkeys and the anubis baboon. The park is also home to over 200 bird species. There are also 11 species of snakes, and occasional hippopotamus and leopards.

Visitors to the park can trek into the forest to view the chimpanzees, as well as swim and snorkel in Lake Tanganyika with almost 100 kinds of colorful cichlid fish.