Gombe National Park is about
16 kms from Kigoma and can only be reached by boat from there.
The main purpose of the park is research rather than tourism and
the facilities there are minimal.
The major attraction of the park are the chimpanzees that were made
famous by Jane Goodall. In 1960 she set up the area as a chimpanzee
research station. She wrote a book on the findings of her research
called "In the shadow of man".
This attracted much publicity to the Reserve and in 1968 the Gombe
Stream National Park was established. It covers an area of 52 sq kms
making it the smallest park of Tanzania. It is made up of a narrow,
mountainous strip of land about 16 km long and 5 km wide that
borders lake Tanganyika. The mountains, which rise steeply from the
lake, are intersected by steep valleys which have streams running
in them and are covered in thick gallery forest. The park head-
quarters is located at Kasekela. The park can be visited all the
year around.
