Close-up of a chimpanzee's face in Gombe Stream National Park, gazing upward through the forest canopy
Where the forest meets Lake Tanganyika

Trekking essentials :

Minimum age 15. Six visitors per chimpanzee group,
one hour with the chimps, seven to ten metres back.

Bring your own face mask.
Do not trek with a cough or a fever.

Read the park rules

Park entry for non‑residents :
USD 100 conservation fee plus 18% VAT, about USD 118 per adult per trek.

See the full fee table Email the park office

Not sure when to come?

Month‑by‑month guide

The park,
GOMBE STREAM

Gazetted in 1968 and covering just 35 km² on the eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika, Gombe is the smallest national park in Tanzania, and one of the most significant. Steep valleys and forested ridges rise straight from the lake, sheltering around a hundred wild chimpanzees alongside olive baboons, red colobus, red‑tailed and blue monkeys, and more than 200 species of bird.

Jane Goodall began watching the Kasekela chimpanzees here in 1960, and that study is now the longest‑running of any wild animal population anywhere. There are no roads into the park, every visitor arrives by boat from Kigoma.
Karibu Gombe.

Things to do

Gombe is managed by Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA), with chimpanzee research running continuously at the Gombe Stream Research Centre under the Jane Goodall Institute. Permits are issued at Kasekela, boats leave from Kigoma, and the nearest airport is Kigoma Airport.

Park news

35 km²
of forest

Gombe is the smallest national park in Tanzania, yet this narrow strip of lakeshore forest protects around 100 wild chimpanzees and more than 200 recorded bird species.

Trips

Gombe trips

Ready-made routes across Gombe and the wider region, from short trips to full circuits.

Trips coming soon.

See all trips →
Privacy · Conservation notice · Fees and timings are indicative; confirm with TANAPA before travelling.