GOMBE NATIONAL PARK

Gombe National Park covers an area of 52, sq. km. and was first recognized as an important wildlife and chimpanzee habitat in 1943 when it was designated a Game Reserve It has mountainous forested terrain that slopes steeply down to its sandy shoreline on Lake Tanganyika, and the defining attraction for the visitor are the chimpanzees living there.

The chimpanzees were originally the object of research by the renowned scientist and conservationist Dr. Jane Goodall, who was herself the protégé of the yet more celebrated anthropologist Dr. Louis Leakey. Her studies started in 1960, and she later married Derek Bryceson who was a Tanzanian MP and the second Director of National Parks after independence in 1961. Gombe was upgraded to National Park status by the Tanzania Government in 1968.

However, the park has other wild animals including red tailed monkeys, red colobus blue monkeys, olive baboon and vervet monkeys.

ACTIVITIES

• Chimpanzee and other primate species viewing
• forest Hiking