GOMBE STREAM NATIONAL PARK

Gombe Stream National Park is situated in the western border of Tanzania, and  is easily accessible by boat from Kigoma town which is 16 km to the south. With  an area of only 52 sq km, Gombe Stream is one of the smallest National Parks  in Tanzania, comprising a narrow strip of mountainous country bounded in the  east by the crest of the Great Rift Valley escarpment, and in the west by Lake  Tanganyika, the world’s longest and second deepest at 1400 meters deep.

Gombe Stream, like its sister game park of Mahale Mountains to the south, is  a park without roads, where you can experience nature on foot accompanied  by the park guide. The park’s vegetation varies from the evergreen forests of  tall trees to open woodlands and grasslands. The park’s most special feature  is its chimpanzees, made famous by Jane Goodall’s study. Chimpanzees are  classed as one of the world’s endangered species, and is the primary visitor  attraction in Gombe.

Other common mammals found are forest species,  mostly primates including baboons, blue monkeys, vervet monkeys, red tailed  monkeys and red colobus monkeys. There are more 200 species of birds in  Gombe Stream National Park.