"The remote forest sanctuary on Lake Tanganyika where Jane Goodall opened human eyes to chimpanzees."
Covering just 52 square kilometres, Gombe Stream is Tanzania’s smallest national park, yet its scientific and emotional impact is immense.
In 1960, Jane Goodall stepped off a boat onto Gombe’s pebble beach with a notebook and binoculars. Her discoveries here proved that chimpanzees make and use tools, possess complex social bonds, and share 98.8% of human DNA.
Visiting Gombe requires climbing steep rainforest trails on foot. When you reach the chimpanzee community and spend an hour sitting quietly on damp leaves while a mother grooms her infant, the journey makes complete sense.
Five secluded days on the crystalline shores of Lake Tanganyika, tracking wild chimpanzees in the footsteps of Jane Goodall.
Set right on the clean pebble beach of Gombe Stream National Park where dense equatorial rainforest meets the crystal-clear waters of Lake Tanganyika. Constructed from bamboo, canvas, and local cedar, the bandas are shaded by wild mango and oil palm trees. Habituated chimpanzees and red colobus monkeys regularly wander through the forest just behind the tents. After demanding morning treks up steep forested valleys to track chimpanzee families, guests spend warm afternoons swimming in the pristine lake waters.
Perched high on a secluded rocky headland overlooking Lake Tanganyika in Kigoma, this lodge offers a civilized stopover before or after boating into Gombe Stream. Circular thatched chalets are nestled among lush bougainvillea gardens with private balconies facing west toward the mountains of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The swimming pool appears to merge into the deep blue lake below. In the evening, watch the fleet of night fishermen light thousands of kerosene lamps that sparkle across the water.
