Gombe is Tanzania’s smallest national park in the western part of Tanzania with an area of only 52 square kilometers. It is a thin strip of ancient forest set in mountainous cut with steep valleys clinging to the shores of Lake Tanganyika. The scenery of Gombe is stunning with most of the 16 major valleys containing swift streams which flow all year.

The park’s major attraction is the Chimpanzees that live protected within its boundaries and are the focus of Jane Goodall’s pioneering research program that began in 1960 and is now the longest-running program of its kind in the world. Chimpanzees are regarded as one of the world’s endangered species. Sharing more than 98 percent of human genes, its an eye catching experience watching them.

Other common attractions 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.