Chimpanzee trekking in Gombe National Park is Tanzania’s secret hub for chimpanzees. For a while, Tanzania has been seen as a safari powerhouse for game drives, with the Great Wildebeest Migration as the climax of it all. However, Tanzania offers much more than just the safari and the migration. The chimpanzee trekking experience is one of the sought-after adventures in Tanzania. This is not just because of the nature of the experience itself but also the history it carries.
Overview of chimpanzee trekking
Chimpanzee trekking is the magic of stepping into a vast jungle of tropical vegetation to explore and encounter chimpanzees for over an hour. Among the few chimpanzee destinations in the region, Gombe National Park makes the list. Chimpanzee trekking is a once-in-a-lifetime experience that stretches visitors to venture into the tropics to find the chimps.
Unlike the famous safari activities that require vehicles to get close to the wildlife in a game drive, chimpanzee trekking is different. Visitors must ditch the vehicles and trek the tropical jungles on foot. This is why the chimpanzee trekking experience is known as an intimate adventure. It allows visitors to actively participate in achieving their goal, which is encountering the chimpanzee primates.
Trekking experience
The experience of trekking chimpanzees starts with a pre-trekking briefing that commences this adventure. This briefing highlights and emphasizes the rules and regulations of chimpanzee trekking. It points out the required code of conduct for visitors in the presence of the chimpanzee primates. This particular briefing is very important for the safety of both the chimpanzees and visitors.
Visitors are then assigned a chimpanzee community in groups of up to 8 people. This grouping enables visitors to traverse the tropical jungles without negatively affecting the vegetation. Large groups of visitors may stress the chimpanzees; hence, only a handful is allowed. Visitors must endeavour to leave only a green footprint in the chimpanzee habitat.
Chimpanzees are one of the most intelligent creatures in the world. This is thanks to their DNA being about 98% similar to that of humans. Chimpanzees are social animals that live in groups called chimpanzee communities. A chimpanzee community can have up to 40-50 chimpanzees, depending on the conditions and the number of chimpanzee primates.
Each chimpanzee community is led by a dominant alpha male. The alpha male is responsible for defending the chimpanzee community against other rival males. It is also responsible for identifying food and leading the group to find it, among other roles. The chimpanzee community can have multiple males, but the alpha male is always one.
About Gombe National Park
Gombe National Park is the only chimpanzee destination in Tanzania. It is situated in the eastern region of the country. It stretches along the hills of the eastern shores of Lake Tanganyika, the deepest lake in Africa. Gombe National Park is the smallest protected area in the country, stretching for only 52 square kilometers.
This park spans the Kigoma region of Tanzania. Gombe National Park was established in 1968. It was named Gombe Stream National Park because it is covered by water and only accessible by boat. The park has a vast ecological system made up of steep valleys, grasslands, woodlands, and tropical forests.
Gombe National Park’s fame and rise to the world stage are mostly attributed to the great conservationist Jane Goodall. This protected area first hosted Jane Goodall in 1960 when it was still a game reserve. Jane Goodall did her research on chimpanzee behaviour, where she discovered the use of tools in chimpanzees. This research changed the public perspective of chimpanzees to intelligent creatures.
Gombe National Park’s visibility was further extended to the world stage through documentaries and books that were a result of this research by Jane Goodall. The Kasakela chimpanzee community was at the heart of this research. It was the chimpanzee community that Jane Goodall focused on during her research.
This national park also hosts many primates that colobus monkeys, olive baboons, red-tailed monkeys, and vervet monkeys, among others. This is in addition to other species like leopards, which are the major predators in this park. There are also bushpigs, hippos, and small antelopes, summarizing the mammals in the park. About 200 different bird species are recorded in this park, along with various reptiles like snakes.
Other activities in Gombe National Park apart from chimpanzee trekking
Gombe National Park is famous for chimpanzee trekking. However, this does not take away the fact that this park also has a variety of other activities, including the following.
Bird watching
Birding is a common activity to add to your bucket list while visiting Gombe National Park. It involves sighting and identifying various bird species in the park and capturing beautiful photos. The park has about 200 recorded bird species that enable visitors to spot them in their natural environment. Gombe National Park hosts both migratory and endemic birds that can be spotted all year round. The migratory species fly in at specific seasons of the year, such as the wet season, especially for breeding.
Some of the bird species to spot in Gombe National Park include the African broadbill, black saw-wing, Livingstone’s turaco, crowned eagle, palm-nut vulture, and red-capped robin-chat, among others.
Guided nature walks
Guided nature walks are also common in this park, allowing visitors to venture into this protected area. This guided nature walk is an adrenaline-rush experience as visitors maneuver the hilly terrain of the park. During this adventure activity, visitors can visit the old working station of Jane Goodall, where she conducted her research and formulated her findings. It on this exact area that Sir Henry Stanley, a British explorer, met Dr. Livingstone in 1871.
Several other activities to do in Gombe apart from chimpanzee trekking include sport fishing, hiking, kayaking, etc. Visitors can combine these activities with chimpanzee trekking in Gombe National Park for an exclusive adventure.
Accessing Gombe National Park for chimpanzee trekking
Gombe National Park is situated in a challenging terrain that is surrounded by water and is only accessed by boat. This further adds to the chimpanzee trekking adventure, enabling visitors to have an excellent time in the park. There are no visible roads that can be used to access Gombe National Park. This leaves the park with only two accessible means: boat and air.
It is only recently that the air option has been used as an access route to Gombe National Park. This was after the construction of Kigoma Airport, an airfield in the Kigoma district of this region. This further eased access and increased the visitor turnout in this park.
Best time for chimpanzee trekking in Gombe National Park
The dry season that runs from June to September and from December to February is the best time to visit Gombe National Park for chimpanzee trekking. This season provides favorable conditions for chimpanzee trekking. However, chimpanzee trekking can also be done in the wet season, though it is more challenging.
