Gombe National Park’s main attraction is the Gombe Stream whose surround area is home to the habituated chimpanzee groups. There are approximately 100 chimpanzees within this small park. Your safari guide will lead you, on foot, down the forest trails as you search for them. On finding them, you will be allowed to spend an hour observing them. In case you are fortunate, you will find them feeding up in the canopy; however, in most cases they are moving so you will have to maneuver through the undergrowth while walking very fast so as to be able to follow them.
Wildlife specials
Other than the chimpanzees, you will be able to encounter various other species of primates. In this park you will find an olive baboon troop which since the 1960s has been under study, and is today exceptionally habituated. You will also be able to see the red tailed monkeys together with the red colobus monkeys. The colobus monkeys are often hunted by the chimpanzees and it is for that reason that they normally stay up in the trees within the forest.
Chimpanzees share approximately 98% of their genetic composition with humans, and this has scientific been proven. There is no scientific explanation need to differentiate between the personage repertoires of screams, pants plus hoots and that even define the supporting, celebrities as well as the powerbrokers characters. May be you will notice a flicker of indulgent once you personally stare into the brown eyes of the chimpanzees, which will also be assessing you – a look of evident recognition across the thinnest of species barriers.
In 1965, The Gombe Stream Research Center was established to proceed with Jane Goodall’s ground-breaking findings about chimpanzees such as tool making and several other behaviors.
This was as well a living laboratory, habitat to the most studied group of chimpanzees in the whole world. The mission of the Center is to operate an international research station wherein the finest available techniques are used to carry on and further enhance the enduring primate research projects which were started by Dr. Jane Goodall, and also to progress basic science and support conservation, as well as train local scientists from Tanzania.
Thanks to the National Geographic plus other television specials on Jane, Dr. Jane’s books on the Gombe chimps, plus the countless writings concerning her life plus work, the chimpanzees in Gombe are today known all over the world. The most recognizable to the public is the “F” chimpanzee family; this family line is headed by the very old matriarch Flo, who on dying was the theme of an obituary in the popular London Times.
Best time for game viewing
from May up to October during the dry season is the perfect time to track the chimpanzees. During this season, the chimpanzees usually to stay near the lakeshore and are less challenging to track down. The park remains open all year round however, during the heavy rains; some of the trails may be challenging to pass through.
Although the park is well known for its resident Chimpanzee population, there are other wildlife species you will see including several primates like the vervet monkeys. Concerning the birdlife, you will find more than 200 species of birds and the most prevalent of them are the fish eagles as well as the palm nut vultures.
For those really interested in Chimpanzee trekking, this park is among the finest highlights of your safari in Tanzania. In case you have some extra days for adventuring, you can arrange tours to other game parks across the country.
Gombe National Park
How To Get To Gombe
Gombe Weather
When To Visit Gombe
Birding in Gombe