Chimpanzee trekking in Tanzania

Tanzania is a country in East Africa within the Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. 

Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest mountain, is in north-eastern Tanzania. Tanzania is ranked as the top destination for Big Five safaris and the vast majority of tourists also visit Zanzibar – or do a northern circuit of Serengeti National Park, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA), Tarangire National Park, Lake Manyara National Park, and Mount Kilimanjaro.

People also come to Tanzania to go chimpanzee trekking. Recently Primate Safaris Rwanda visited Tanzania to clearly understand the difference between the chimpanzees in Tanzania and those in Uganda.

Tanzania

Gombe Stream National Park is one of the smallest national parks in Tanzania at only 20 square miles. The park is located in the western Kigoma region and was established in 1968. The terrain is distinguished by steep valleys, and the forest vegetation ranges from grassland to alpine bamboo to tropical rainforest.

The park is accessible by boat and is known to be a home for chimpanzees. It is in this park where Jane Goodall conducted her research on chimpanzees. The park’s diversity makes it increasingly popular, just like Kibale Forest National park in Uganda. Besides chimpanzees, primates inhabiting Gombe Stream include beachcomber olive baboons, red colobus, red-tailed monkeys, blue monkeys, and vervet monkeys.

The park is also home to over 200 bird species and bush pigs. There are also 11 species of snakes, and occasional hippopotami and leopards. Visitors to the park can trek into the forest to view the chimpanzees, as well as swim and snorkel in Lake Tanganyika with almost 100 kinds of colourful cichlid fish.

With the support of renowned anthropologist Louis Leakey, Goodall set up a small research station in Gombe Stream in hopes of learning more about the behaviour of our closest relatives. There she spent months tracking the elusive chimpanzee troops, particularly the Kasakela chimpanzee community, and observing their daily habits until she was slowly accepted by one troop and was allowed rare and intimate glimpses into chimpanzee society. She wrote many books and filmed many documentaries about the behaviour of chimpanzees.