GOMBE, A SAFE ISLAND FOR CHIMPANZEES

I love adventure and travelling, so as much as the situation would allow it, I make time to travel and see whatever nature has to offer, on one of these occasions I was able to visit the Gombe  Stream national park. It was an adventure which required one to trek about 5 kilometers in the deep forest in order to see the inhabitants of the park, the famous gorilla.
 
 

Gombe Stream National Park is located in western Kigoma Region, Tanzania, 10 miles (20 km) north of Kigoma, the capital of Kigoma Region.  Established in 1968, Gombe is the smallest national park in Tanzania, with only 20 square miles (52 km2) of forest running along the hills of the eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika. The terrain is distinguished by steep valleys, and the forest vegetation ranges from grassland to alpine bamboo to tropical rainforest.

 

 I was able together with other nature's lovers to access the island  by boat, the park is most famous as the location where Jane Goodall pioneered her behavioral research conducted on the chimpanzee populations. on arriving to the island we were able to meet the guard who led our way to the deep forest in search of the animals living there. The Kasakela chimpanzee community, featured in several books and documentaries, lives in Gombe Stream National Park.

we were able to see the chimpanzees, olive baboons, red-tailed monkeys and vervet monkeys. The park is also home to over 200 bird species and bushpigs. we were able to see some of them, and without forgetting natures wonderfull site, where we stumbled upon a waterfall which is located in the forest.

It was an amazing journey which I will always remember and treasure.

The stream of cold water from the waterfall added to a cool and refreshing atmosphere.

 

The waterfall behind us, with  friends

 

The chimpanzee  looking straight at us, and I got a shot at it.

 

We were also taken to a hut where the famous Jane Goodall used it as a feeding station and chimpanzee would come to feed there frequently.