Gombe Game Reserve - Africa Natural Tours ( africanaturaltours.com )
Gombe Game Reserve: Africa
Natural Tours
AFRICA
NATURAL TOURS
(The best tour company in Tanzania)
Specialized in: Mountain climbing,
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Gombe Game Reserve
An
excited whoop erupts from deep in the forest, boosted immediately by a dozen
other voices, rising in volume and tempo and pitch to a frenzied shrieking
crescendo. It is the famous ‘pant-hoot’ call: a bonding ritual that allows the
participants to identify each other through their individual vocal stylizations.
To the human listener, walking through the ancient forests of Gombe Stream,
this spine-chilling outburst is also an indicator of imminent visual contact
with man’s closest genetic relative: the chimpanzee.
Gombe
is the smallest of Tanzania's national parks: a fragile strip of chimpanzee
habitat straddling the steep slopes and river valleys that hem in the sandy
northern shore of Lake Tanganyika. Its chimpanzees – habituated to human
visitors – were made famous by the pioneering work of Jane Goodall, who in 1960
founded a behavioural research program that now stands as the longest-running
study of its kind in the world. The matriarch Fifi, the last surviving member
of the original community, only three-years old when Goodall first set foot in
Gombe, is still regularly seen by visitors.
Chimpanzees
share about 98% of their genes with humans, and no scientific expertise is
required to distinguish between the individual repertoires of pants, hoots and
screams that define the celebrities, the powerbrokers, and the supporting
characters. Perhaps you will see a flicker of understanding when you look into
a chimp's eyes, assessing you in return - a look of apparent recognition across
the narrowest of species barriers.
The
most visible of Gombe’s other mammals are also primates. A troop of beachcomber
olive baboons, under study since the 1960s, is exceptionally habituated, while
red-tailed and red colobus monkeys - the latter regularly hunted by chimps –
stick to the forest canopy.
The park’s
200-odd bird species range from the iconic fish eagle to the jewel-like Peter’s
twinspots that hop tamely around the visitors’ centre.
After
dusk, a dazzling night sky is complemented by the lanterns of hundreds of small
wooden boats, bobbing on the lake like a sprawling city.
About
Gombe Stream National Park
Size: 52 sq km (20 sq miles), Tanzania's smallest park.
Location: 16 km (10 miles) north of Kigoma on the shore of Lake Tanganyika in western Tanzania.
Getting there
Kigoma is connected to Dar and Arusha by scheduled flights, to Dar and Mwanza by a slow rail service, to Mwanza, Dar and Mbeya by rough dirt roads, and to Mpulungu in Zambia by a weekly ferry.
From Kigoma, local lake-taxis take up to three hours to reach Gombe, or motorboats can be chartered, taking less than one hour.
Size: 52 sq km (20 sq miles), Tanzania's smallest park.
Location: 16 km (10 miles) north of Kigoma on the shore of Lake Tanganyika in western Tanzania.
Getting there
Kigoma is connected to Dar and Arusha by scheduled flights, to Dar and Mwanza by a slow rail service, to Mwanza, Dar and Mbeya by rough dirt roads, and to Mpulungu in Zambia by a weekly ferry.
From Kigoma, local lake-taxis take up to three hours to reach Gombe, or motorboats can be chartered, taking less than one hour.
What to do
Chimpanzee trekking; hiking, swimming and snorkelling; visit the site of Henry Stanley's famous “Dr Livingstone I presume” at Ujiji near Kigoma, and watch the renowned dhow builders at work. .
When
to go
The chimps don't roam as far in the wet season (February-June, November-mid December) so may be easier to find; better picture opportunities in the dry (July-October and late December). |
Accommodation
1 new luxury tented lodge, as well a self-catering hostel, guest house and campsites on the lakeshore.
1 new luxury tented lodge, as well a self-catering hostel, guest house and campsites on the lakeshore.
NOTE
Strict rules are in place to safeguard you and the chimps. Allow at least 2 days to see them - this is not a zoo so there are no guarantees where they'll be each day.
Strict rules are in place to safeguard you and the chimps. Allow at least 2 days to see them - this is not a zoo so there are no guarantees where they'll be each day.
For more information
visit www.africanaturaltours.com
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