Overview

Gombe Stream is a small reserve on Lake Tanganyika located in the far west of Tanzania. Its main activity is chimpanzee trekking, but it is a distant second to the Mahale Mountains region, which are nearby.

Gombe, which was initially protected in 1943 and upgraded to national park status in 1965, is located 20 kilometers north of the frontier town of Kigoma.

It is only 25 square kilometers in size and is mostly made up of forested mountains that descend to the shores of the enormous lake.

The location is best known for the 100 or so chimpanzees that live there, some of which have been habituated and can be seen up close.

Jane Goodall, a British primatologist, conducted her original and groundbreaking research here in the 1980s, which is where the world first learned about the plight of chimpanzees.

Unfortunately, Gombe Stream is too small a park to protect a significant enough number of chimpanzees to make the area viable. The 1990s saw an increase in the number of refugees leaving Rwanda as a result of the genocide, which hastened the encroachment on the natural landscape in every direction. What is left is essentially a forest island.

It has been reported that the chimpanzee behavior in this area has changed in a worrying way. We recall one Kigoma evening in 2004 when a researcher sobbed uncontrollably into her beer, lamenting that “the chimps are dying, Gombe is dying.”

These days, it appears that The Goodall Institute is no longer around; we have been unable to contact them for comment.

Practically speaking, getting to the park still requires taking the infamously unreliable scheduled flight from Dar es Salaam to Kigoma and then a protracted boat ride up the lake. On the way, staying at least one night in Kigoma is frequently necessary.

The park also offers reasonably priced lodging options.

Gombe Stream used to be a regular stop on our safaris many years ago, but between 2003 and 2007, we shifted almost entirely to the Mahale Mountains, which are situated 150 kilometers to the south and also on the lake.

There are direct flights from Serengeti to Mahale, which is much larger and more scenically stunning, has much better lodging options, and is home to a much larger and more resilient chimpanzee population. Really, it’s a no-brainer.

Today, adventurous backpackers passing through this relatively remote area who can’t afford to take the longer boat ride to Mahale are the ones who frequent Gombe Stream the most.