Chimpanzee Trekking in Mahale and Gombe: A Complete Guide

Chimpanzee trekking in Tanzania happens in two parks: Mahale Mountains National Park and Gombe National Park. Both sit on the eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika in the far west of the country. Mahale holds around 1,000 chimpanzees and offers the higher sighting rate. Gombe holds around 100 to 150 and is where Jane Goodall began her research in 1960. Neither park has roads. You reach both by light aircraft and boat. The best months are August to October.

Where Can You Go Chimpanzee Trekking in Tanzania?

Tanzania has two chimpanzee trekking parks. Both are on the eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika, which forms the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. Gombe is the northern one, close to Kigoma. Mahale sits further south.

The chimpanzees in both parks are Eastern chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii. In Tanzania this subspecies lives only in Gombe and Mahale. The country holds an estimated 2,000 to 2,500 chimpanzees in total, and these two parks are the strongholds.

A third option exists. Rubondo Island National Park on Lake Victoria has chimpanzees that were introduced in the 1970s. They are less habituated and sighting rates are much lower. Most travellers who want a reliable chimp encounter go to Mahale or Gombe.

Neither park is on the northern safari circuit. That is the point. You will share the forest with a handful of people, not a queue of vehicles.

Mahale vs Gombe: Which Should You Choose?

Mahale for the wildlife. Gombe for the history. If you can only do one and you want the best chance of a long, close encounter, choose Mahale.

Mahale is the better wildlife experience and the better setting. Gombe is the better story. Gombe is also cheaper and easier to reach, which makes it the practical choice if you are short on time or already in Kigoma.

Many travellers do both. An eight-day western Tanzania trip can cover Gombe and Mahale with a Kigoma hub in between. Others pair Mahale with Katavi National Park, which sits inland to the east and is one of the wildest parks in Africa.

What Is Mahale Mountains National Park?

Mahale covers about 1,600 km² of forested mountains on the shore of Lake Tanganyika. Mount Nkungwe, the highest point, reaches 2,462 metres. The park has no roads. It is reserved entirely for walking and chimpanzee trekking.

Around 1,000 chimpanzees live here across roughly 12 communities. The one you will track is the Mimikire clan, known as the M-group, which Japanese researchers from Kyoto University have followed since 1965. Decades of habituation mean the chimps tolerate people at close range without changing their behaviour.

Mahale is not a Big Five park. There are no lions on the tourist side and elephants are rarely seen. What it has instead is Tanzania's densest primate population: chimpanzees, yellow baboons, red colobus, blue monkeys, red-tailed monkeys and vervets. Leopards exist but are almost never seen.

The setting is the other reason people come. Forested peaks drop straight into white sand beaches and clear water. Lake Tanganyika is the world's second-deepest lake and holds an estimated 250 to 1,000 fish species, most of them cichlids found nowhere else.

What Is Gombe National Park?

Gombe is Tanzania's smallest national park, a strip of forested valleys covering roughly 35 to 56 km² on the lake shore about 16 km north of Kigoma.

Its significance is out of all proportion to its size. Jane Goodall arrived in 1960 and started what became the longest-running field study of any wild animal species. Her work at Gombe overturned what science believed about chimpanzees. She documented them making and using tools, hunting red colobus monkeys for meat, and maintaining complex social hierarchies. Before Gombe, tool use was thought to define humans.

The research continues today through the Jane Goodall Institute. Visitors can see the research centre and learn how the study works.

The chimpanzee community you track is Kasekela, the group Goodall studied. Gombe also holds a habituated troop of yellow baboons that spends most of its time near the shore, plus red colobus and over 200 bird species.

How Does a Chimpanzee Trek Work?

You start early, usually just after first light. Trackers go ahead at dawn to locate where the chimpanzees nested overnight and radio back the position.

Your guide reads the forest as you walk. Last night's nests are shadowy clumps high in the canopy. Half-eaten fruit and fresh dung mark the direction of travel. The group moves in silence, listening for pant-hoots, the long-distance call chimpanzees use to keep contact.

Then you find them. Viewing is capped at one hour. In that hour you sit and watch them groom, argue, feed, play and move. They will often come closer than the distance rule allows, which is fine as long as you do not close the gap yourself.

Group sizes are small, commonly six people per trek. Both parks limit daily permits.

The rules

• Keep at least 10 metres from the chimpanzees

• One hour of viewing time, no more

• Do not trek if you have a cold, flu or any stomach illness

• Some camps require a surgical face mask; it is usually provided

• No eating near the chimpanzees

• Follow the guide's instructions without exception

• Do not use flash photography

The rules exist for one reason. Chimpanzees share most of our DNA and catch human respiratory infections readily. A common cold can kill a chimp. The distance rule and the mask rule protect them.

How Hard Is Chimpanzee Trekking?

It varies enormously and you cannot know in advance. A trek can take 20 minutes or most of a day. It depends entirely on where the chimpanzees are that morning.

Season is the biggest factor. Late in the dry season, roughly August to October, the chimps feed on the lower slopes near the lake, close to the camps. The paths are dry and firm. Treks are often short.

In the wet months the chimps move to higher ground to follow fruiting trees. Treks then involve steep climbing on slippery ground through thick vegetation, sometimes for several hours each way.

You need a reasonable level of fitness. This is not a walk on a flat path. The terrain is steep in both parks, there is no shade advantage, and the humidity is high. If you can manage three to five hours of uphill hiking in humid heat, you will be fine.

When Is the Best Time for Chimpanzee Trekking?

August to October is the best window. This is the tail end of the dry season. The chimps are low, the paths are dry, and sighting rates peak.

A trade-off worth knowing. The wet season is beautiful in these forests. Waterfalls run full, butterflies swarm, and the lightning storms over the lake at night are extraordinary. You will also work much harder for your chimps and may not find them.

How Much Does Chimpanzee Trekking Cost?

Figures vary by park and by source, and TANAPA adjusts them. Gombe and Mahale are among the most expensive parks in Tanzania on a per-person basis.

The reason is deliberate. Both parks are small and ecologically fragile. High fees and limited daily permits keep visitor numbers down and reduce the disease risk to the chimpanzees. A portion of the Gombe fee funds the research programme Goodall started.

The permit is a small part of the total. The real cost is getting there and staying there:

• Domestic flights — Dar es Salaam or Arusha to Kigoma, or charter to the Mahale airstrip

• Boat transfers — Kigoma to Gombe, or lake transfer to Mahale camps

• Camp rates — river and beach camps in Mahale sit at the higher end of Tanzanian pricing

• Park concession fees — charged per person per night if you stay inside the park

Because permit rates and park fees change, always confirm the current figure with your operator when you book. Do not budget from a blog post, including this one.

How Do You Get to Mahale and Gombe?

Neither park has road access. Both need a flight and a boat.

Getting to Gombe

Fly to Kigoma. Air Tanzania runs scheduled flights from Dar es Salaam, taking around three hours. From Kigoma it is about 16 km up the lake shore to the park, roughly 90 minutes by speedboat or longer on a local timber boat.

Getting to Mahale

The usual route is a light aircraft charter from Arusha or Dar es Salaam direct to the Mahale airstrip, then a short boat transfer to camp. During peak season, June to October, the camps schedule regular flights.

The alternative is to fly to Kigoma and take a boat south. A speedboat takes four to five hours. A local timber boat can take 15 hours or more. The MV Liemba, a lake steamer, runs the length of Tanganyika twice a month but is a mode of transport for the patient, not the scheduled.

Overland from Arusha to Kigoma takes two to three days by 4x4 and is only for travellers with time to spare. The train from Dar es Salaam runs two or three times a week and takes about three days.

Where Do You Stay?

Both parks have a small number of camps, most on the beach with the forest behind.

Mahale camps typically require a minimum stay of three nights, and many recommend four. This is not a sales tactic. Getting to Mahale takes a full day each way, and chimpanzee sightings are not guaranteed on any single trek. Three or four nights gives you two or three attempts and turns a good chance into a near certainty.

Gombe works on two to three nights. It is smaller, easier to reach and there is less to do beyond trekking, hiking to the waterfalls and swimming.

Camps in both parks range from rustic bandas to high-end beach lodges. Rates at the top end of Mahale are among the highest in Tanzania, which reflects the logistics of supplying a camp with no road access.

What Should You Pack?

• Sturdy, broken-in hiking boots with grip — the single most important item

• Long trousers and long sleeves — protection from insects, thorns and stinging plants

• Lightweight rain jacket — these are rainforests in any season

• Gardening or grip gloves — useful for grabbing vegetation on steep ground

• Insect repellent with DEET

• At least two litres of water; the humidity dehydrates you fast

• Camera with a fast lens — the forest floor is dark, and flash is not allowed

• Binoculars for birds and other primates

• A dry bag for camera gear

Wear muted greens and browns. Avoid camouflage patterns, which are restricted in Tanzania.

Can You Combine Chimp Trekking With a Classic Safari?

Yes, and most people do. Chimpanzee trekking is an add-on, not a whole trip.

The common structures:

• Northern circuit then chimps — Serengeti and Ngorongoro, then fly to Kigoma or Mahale for three to four nights

• Western circuit — Mahale plus Katavi National Park, one of Africa's least-visited and most game-rich parks, reachable from Mahale

• Chimps then beach — Mahale or Gombe, then fly to Zanzibar or Pemba

• Both parks — eight days covering Gombe and Mahale with Kigoma as the hub

The contrast is the appeal. The Serengeti is open plains, vehicles and big game at distance. Mahale is dense forest, no vehicles at all, and an hour sitting on the ground three metres from an animal that shares your ancestry. They are different trips inside one country.

Planning Your Chimpanzee Trek

Book early. Both parks cap daily permits and the good camps are small. For August to October, four to six weeks ahead is the minimum and earlier is better.

Kearsleys has run safaris in Tanzania since 1948. We arrange chimpanzee trekking in both parks, including flights, boat transfers, permits and camps. Park guides for both destinations:

Mahale National Park — Chimpanzee Safaris

Gombe National Park — Chimpanzee Trekking & Safaris