Chimpanzee Trekking in Tanzania
Chimpanzee trekking In Tanzania unlike in other known destinations (Uganda & Rwanda) across East Africa happens in the remotest western corners of Tanzania at Gombe stream National Park and Mahale National park.
Both Gombe stream and Mahale National Park offer amazing chimpanzee trekking experiences. Gombe though is the true home of the popular chimpanzee lady Dr. Jane Goodall. Its here that she started out her study on chimpanzee behaviour in 1960, and her study is considered the longest study on animals by man – as it is still on going.
Getting to both Gombe and Mahale requires absolute patience and endurance even by Plane…
Both Gombe Stream & Mahale Mountain National parks are located in the far western part of Tanzania along the shoreline of Africa’s longet lake, and second deepest in the world – Lake Tanganyika. A journey to either one of these parks is for the truely adventurous.
By road, Gombe stream is approximately 1,080km/671mi which takes 20-hours from Dar es Salaam and 15 hours from Arusha – the legendary Dr. Jane goodall and her mother spent a whoping five days getting to Gombe from Nairobi (see: Jane Goodall’s original tale of chimpanzees still astonishes today – an amazing story about her works).
The best and quickest way of getting to Gombe Stream for your chimpanzee trekking is by flying there from either Arusha or Dar es Salaam to Kigoma airport.
From Kigoma you will be transfered by boat to Gombe stream National Park – a jounrey that lasts approximately one (01) hour.
If Mahale Mountain National Park is your choice of a destination for chimpanzee trekking in Tanzania, then we warn you that this will cost you a significant amount of money especially for the flights. From Arusha you will fly to Mahale National Park aboard the twice -aweek scheduled flight.
