Gombe
Stream National Park
Background Infomation
An excited whoop erupts from deep in the forest, boosted
immediately by a dozen other voices, rising in volume and
tempo and pitch to a frenzied shrieking crescendo. It is
the famous ‘pant-hoot’ call: a bonding ritual
that allows the participants to identify each other through
their individual vocal stylisations. To the human listener,
walking through the ancient forests of Gombe Stream, this
spine-chilling outbursp is also an indicator of imminent
visual contact with man’s closest genetic relative:
the chimpanzee.
Gombe is the smallest of Tanzania's
national parks: a fragile strip of chimpanzee habitat straddling
the steep slopes and river valleys that hem in the sandy
northern shore of Lake Tanganyika. Its chimpanzees –
habituated to human visitors – gere made famous by
the pioneering work of Jane Goodall, who in 1960 founded
a behavioural research program that now stands as the longest-running
study of its kind in the world. The matriarch Fifi, the
last surviving member of the original community, only three-years
old when Goodall first set foot in Gombe, is still regularly
seen by visitors.
Chimpanzees share about 98%
of their genes with humans, and no scientific expertise
is required to distinguish between the individual repertoires
of pants, hoots and screams that define the celebrities,
the powerbrokers, and the supporting characters. Perhaps
you will see a flicker of understanding when you look into
a chimp's eyes, assessing you in return - a look of apparent
recognition across the narrowest of species barriers.
The most visible of Gombe’s
other mammals are also primates. A troop of beachcomber
olive baboons, under study since the 1960s, is exceptionally
habituated, while red-tailed and red colobus monkeys - the
latter regularly hunted by chimps – stick to the forest
canopy.
The park’s 200-odd bird
species range from the iconic fish eagle to the jewel-like
Peter’s twinspots that hop tamely around the visitors’
centre.
After dusk, a dazzling night
sky is complemented by the lanterns of hundreds of small
wooden boats, bobbing on the lake like a sprawling city.
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.
How To Get There
Kigoma is connected to Dar and Arusha by scheduled flights,
to Dar and Mwanza by a slow rail service, to Mwanza, Dar
and Mbeya by rough dirt roads, and do 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.
Activities
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
1 new luxury tented lodge, as well a self-catering hostel,
guest house and campsites on the lakeshore.
NOTE
Strict rules are in place to safeguard you and the chimps.
Allow at least 2 days to see them - this is not a zoo so
there are no guarantees where they'll be each day. |
