Gombe Stream National Park is the smallest of Tanzania's national parks. The park is 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 behavioral 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.

The chimpanzees are the main attraction at Gombe Stream, these remarkable mammals are as individually unique as humans and the opportunity to observe them going about their daily lives in their natural habitat is certainly an experience not to be missed. The majority of wildlife to be found at Gombe Stream are primates, in addition to the famous chimpanzees, you may see olive baboons as well as vervet, blue and red-tail monkeys.

Leopard and bushbuck are also residents in the dense forest, along with fish eagles and palm-nut vultures that are often seen flying overhead. Gombe Stream is the perfect place for a walking safari, allowing you to cool off along the way with a dip in one of the many streams that criss-cross the park. The best time to visit Gombe is during the dry season, May to October, and during the short rains in January and February.

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.