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Chimpanzees, two great lakes, and parks very few people reach.
The circuit
In the far west, along Lake Tanganyika and Lake Victoria, Tanzania turns to forest and water. There are almost no roads worth the name. You arrive by light aircraft, often on flights that run only on certain days, and for some parks the last stretch is by boat.
That effort is the point. Mahale and Gombe give you wild chimpanzees in forest that runs down to a lake shore, and Katavi is real wilderness, where the dry season packs buffalo and hippo around the last of the water.
Because flights are limited, the west rewards a longer stay. We build it around the flight days first, then add Katavi, the Serengeti or Ruaha. Rushing it is the one way to spoil it.
Guests who have done a classic safari and want something rarer. Photographers. Anyone for whom an hour sitting near a chimpanzee family matters more than a long list of species.
Destinations
Chimpanzees on Lake Tanganyika · Dry season
Forested mountains drop straight into the clear water of Lake Tanganyika, and the only way in is by boat. A large community of wild chimpanzees lives on the slopes, used to people after decades of research.
Tracking them can be an easy stroll or a steep, sweaty climb, depending on where they slept the night before. Afterwards there is a quiet beach and the lake at sunset.
Ask us about Mahale →
Where Jane Goodall began · Dry season
This is where Jane Goodall began studying chimpanzees in 1960, and the research she started continues today. Gombe is Tanzania’s smallest national park: a strip of steep valleys along the lake shore, reached by boat from Kigoma.
The chimpanzees here are some of the most closely studied animals on earth. Sitting near a family as they groom, squabble and feed is not something you forget.
Ask us about Gombe →
Buffalo, hippo and real wilderness · July to October
Katavi is remote even by the standards of the west, and it sees very few visitors in a year. As the dry season deepens, the Katuma River shrinks, and huge herds of buffalo and hundreds of hippos crowd into the pools that remain.
It is raw, dusty and dramatic, and you are very likely to have a sighting entirely to yourself.
Ask us about Katavi →
A forest island on Lake Victoria · Dry season
A national park on an island in the south-west of Lake Victoria, almost entirely forest. It is the place to look for the sitatunga, a shy antelope of the reed beds, and chimpanzees were introduced here decades ago.
There may be days when you are the only guests on the island. It combines well with the western Serengeti.
Ask us about Rubondo →By light aircraft, then boat. Flights to the west run on set days, so we plan your dates around them first.
It varies by the day. Sometimes the chimpanzees are a short walk from camp, sometimes the trek is steep and long. A reasonable level of fitness helps, and your guide sets the pace.
The dry season, June to October. Katavi is at its most dramatic late in that season, when the water is lowest.
Yes. It is a natural pairing, and Rubondo Island sits conveniently between the two.
Tell us your dates and who is coming. Goodluck will come back with a route, and the reasons behind every camp on it.
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