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Gombe is the smallest of Tanzania's national parks about 52 sq km.: 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.
Gombe Stream National Park
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A Gombe safari is a great opportunity to meet a chimpanzee up
close. After a day of hiking you can take a swim in the crystal clear waters of
Lake Tanganyika, the world's longest and second-deepest lake. 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. Best time to visit: 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). .
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