Gombe in a Day, from Kigoma

At a glance

Destinations

Gombe National Park · Lake Tanganyika

Best for

Chimpanzees

Travel style

Chimpanzee tracking · On foot, with a speedboat transfer

Activity level

Moderate — tracking is on foot, sometimes for hours

Best time to travel

July to October usually improves the chances of a manageable chimpanzee search at Gombe. On a day trip, long tracking walks and weather on the boat crossing can limit the visit; a sighting cannot be promised.

Start and end

Kigoma, there and back by boat

Why this journey

• Chimpanzee tracking in the morning, when the group is active
• Two hours each way by private speedboat on Lake Tanganyika
• Up to an hour with the chimpanzees once the group is found
• Olive baboons on the shore, and red colobus and red-tailed monkeys in the canopy
• No overnight, and the lowest cost of any chimpanzee trip we run

Day by day

For anyone already in Kigoma, Gombe is a day trip. The boat leaves at first light, the tracking happens in the morning when the chimpanzees are moving, and the lake crossing is half the pleasure of it.

Pickup at 06:00 from Kigoma accommodation for transfer to the ferry station. Guests board a private speedboat for the two-hour journey across Lake Tanganyika, the longest freshwater lake in the world and the second deepest, before reaching the park for breakfast. The primary activity is guided chimpanzee trekking into the forest seeking close encounters with habituated troops. With roughly 100 eastern chimpanzees in the park, sightings are likely, though you may have to trek for a few hours to find them. These animals share over 98 per cent of the same genetic code as humans, with observable personalities and family interactions. Observation time with a located troop extends up to one hour. Additional wildlife includes olive baboons foraging for food on the lakeshore and endangered ashy red colobus and red-tailed monkeys. Blue and vervet monkeys appear frequently, alongside bushpigs, hippos and leopards. The park hosts over 200 bird species and 250 butterfly varieties. The evening concludes with the speedboat return to Kigoma and a hotel transfer. Lunch is included.

Stay and travel

A day trip, so there is no overnight stay. You start and finish at the agreed pick-up point.

A private speedboat from Kigoma up the lake to Gombe, about two hours each way. There is no road into the park, so the tracking is on foot.

Camps fill, and roads change with the rains. Where something has to change we substitute at the same level and tell you before you travel, not after.

Included and excluded

Practical information

Chimpanzee trekking

Tracking is on foot, on the animals’ terms, and can mean several hours of steep forest walking. Minimum ages and group sizes are set by the park — we confirm both when you book.

Visas, insurance and tipping

A visa is arranged before travel or on arrival. Travel and medical insurance is a condition of booking. Tipping is customary and we will suggest a range rather than set one.