Gombe National Park — Attraction in Kigoma Region

Yes, it's expensive to visit and awkward to get to, but this results in fewer visitors and makes Gombe Stream a peaceful and uncrowded place and hopefully will help protect and preserve these magnificent primates.

I chose to stay 1 night at one of the four or so lakeside tents ($59 pp) but cheaper rest house accommodation was also available. The tent was great, with a comfortable bed, white bedlinen, hot shower, toilet, deck with chairs, power outlet (no power cuts during my stay). There were no bugs and I didn't drop down the anti-mozzie net.

I did one long trek in the morning with Ahadi who was a fantastic guide. We saw two families, followed them first on a path, then through the bush and were able to stay with and observe them for quite a long time (until they decided to take off) on a few occasions. It was pure joy watching the chimps, especially the youngsters and babies! They are so fascinating! The trek was everything I hoped to get from this trip. Very lucky with the weather - sunny and dry - even though it rains now almost every day. The trails were not really muddy (it rained the day before) or too slippery. The scenery was fantastic.

I organised the trip on my own: booked return Dar to Kigoma flights with Air Tansania, hotel in Kigoma for one night and researched the park fees in advance (these I believe are available on the TANAPA website, also blogs and forums. They haven't changed in a while.) What was not clear was how to arrange a boat transfer from Kigoma and its price with prices mentioned on the internet to be anywhere from $150 to $300 for the return journey. In the end, I managed to contact the Gombe visitor center in Kigoma and the super helpful Iddi aranged a TANAPA boat and a transfer from the airport to the TANAPA boat dock via WhatsApp. The costs are as follows: approx. $90 cash for the fuel (I paid TZS) payable to the boat captain, and $23.6 per boat + $23.6 per night waiting time to the park by card when you arrive in the park. The boat was very nice and the ride to the park very scenic and took approx. 1 hour 15 minutes one way.

Tipping (park guide, chimp finder / checker, boat captain) is expected, appreciated and well-deserved - all the park staff were great and a pleasure to deal with.

Even though Air Tanzania cancelled one of my flights and messed my park visit plans, it all worked very well for me in the end, and I had a superb experience...

Park itself is quiet, remote and beautiful. Seeing chimps in their natural habitat is an amazing opportunity. Nice hiking as well. Helpful guides and a beautiful beach top it off!

The only drawback is price; 118 USD for tourists for one day and on top of this it is difficult to get to and to make arrangements without the help of a tour company. Public boat from Kibilizi (

Gombe Park is very much worth a visit! We were the only two guests during our visit at the end of September and found plenty of chimps at close distance. At first it might seem as an expensive trip, but with some planning of your own it may turn out pretty affordable.

Entry is $118 per 24hrs, ($100 excl. 18% VAT), guide costs $23.6 (per group) and the 'official' boat is priced at $354. If you're on a budget however, it is possible to find a 'private boat' (which the guy at the Gombe Information Centre in Kigoma already offered us at $200). We still found this rather expensive, so we went to the Kibizi harbour ('bandari') to find a boat ourselves. Upon entering the harbour and asking for a boat, we were immediately led to the right person. He asked for $200 at first, but after some bargaining we got it down to $100 (knowing basics of Swahili does help a lot, as he barely spoke English, but you might find a translater at the harbor). Our trip for two to Gombe cost $360 in total, thanks to the cheap boat.

You could consider taking a Lake Taxi for $3 single, but they don't go on Sundays and (as we've heard) depart from Kigoma just once daily at 12:30pm, take 4 hours (without shade) and pass Gombe on the way back at 8:30 in the morning. As entry fee is calculated per 24h, you're cheaper off taking a boat at $100 instead of having to stay in the park for an extra 24 hours. Cheapest overnight stay option (don't know about its conditions) is at $23.6.

We went to Gombe early in the morning, leaving Kibizi at 6am. The boat trip took 2 hours; just as long as the official boat would take (unless you take the speedboat, 25min at some $1400).

Upon arrival in Gombe, we got our guide and had quite a trip up the hills. Apparently the chimps are at the end of the dry season (end September/October) farther away; in Feb/March/April they may be right down at the beach. Trying not to disturb the chimps too much, you are allowed to stay 1hr at each group of chimps, so if you're lucky you might find another group. As we were just the only two visitors of the day, we were allowed to stay a bit longer at our group. We did not come across another...