Category: WESTERN CIRCUIT

Its Tanzania smallest park with area of 52 sq km, located on shores of Lake Tanganyika.

Gombe stream offers visitors the rare chance to observe the chimpanzee communities made by famous British explorer Dr Jane Goodall. Numbers of monkeys can also be seen red colobus, red-tailed and blue monkeys.

The area is heavily forested making it an unsuitable habitat for carnivore and safe for walking safari.

Birdwatchers will be richly rewarded as Gombe has 200 odd bird species range from the Iconic Fish Eagle to Jewel like Peters twin spots.

Dry Season in Gombe:

June – Mid November: Best time for game viewing:

December – February: Humid & Hot: Good time for game viewing.

Rainy Season in Gombe:

Mid November – Mid December: Short Rain :Wonderful for birdlife and lush scenery

April – May: heavy rain: Wonderful for birdlife and lush scenery.

Most of the lodges are usually closed from April to May.

Getting to Gombe:

Boat : 2-4 hours from Kigoma

Flight: 2 hour flight from Dar es salaam

Suggested Itineraries for Gombe : Minimum 4 Days/ 3 Nights Safari: Check for Itineraries

Mahale is sanctuary for Chimpanzee which has boundary with shore of Lake Tanganyika, the 2nd deepest & unpolluted Lake.

Mahale rises from 2,460 m above sea level and with area of 1,600 sq km.

Home to some of Africa’s last remaining wild chimpanzees: a population of roughly 800 (only 60 individuals forming what is known as “M group”), habituated to human visitors by a Japanese research project founded in the 1960s.

Tracking the chimps of Mahale is a magical experience.

The guide’s eyes pick out last night’s nests – shadowy clumps high in a gallery of trees crowding the sky.

Scraps of half-eaten fruit and fresh dung become valuable clues, leading deeper into the forest.

Butterflies flit in the dappled sunlight.

Lake Tanganyika is home for about 1,000 different species of fish.

Dry Season in Mahale:

June – Mid November: Best time for game viewing.

December – February: Humid & Hot: Good time for game viewing.

Rainy Season in Mahale:

Mid November – Mid December: Short Rain :Wonderful for birdlife and lush scenery

April – May: heavy rain: Wonderful for birdlife and lush scenery.

Most of the lodges are usually closed from April to May.

Getting to Mahale:

Boat : 5-10 hours from Kigoma

Flight: 45 min from Kigoma

Suggested Itineraries for Mahale : Minimum 4 Days/ 3 Night Safari : Check for Itineraries

Its 3rd largest park with area of 4,471 sq km located South East of Mpanda town.

Lake Katavi is located; with its vast flood plain the palm fringed Lake Chala and the Katuma River.

This park is home for elephants, buffalo, lion, hippo, crocodile, leopard, and zebra and antelope species like sable, topi, eland, impala and roan. More than 400 bird life species are found.

Isolated, untrammeled and seldom visited, Katavi is a true wilderness, providing the few intrepid souls who make it there with a thrilling taste of Africa as it must have been a century ago this during the dry season, when the floodwaters retreat, that Katavi truly comes into its own.

The Katuma, reduced to a shallow, muddy trickle, forms the only source of drinking water for miles around, and the flanking floodplains support game concentrations that defy belief.

An estimated 4,000 elephants might converge on the area, together with several herds of 1,000-plus buffalo, while an abundance of giraffe, zebra, impala and reedbuck provide easy pickings for the numerous lion prides and spotted hyena clans whose territories converge on the floodplains.

Katavi’s most singular wildlife spectacle is provided by its hippos. Towards the end of the dry season, up to 200 individuals might flop together in any riverine pool of sufficient depth. And as more hippos gather in one place, so does male rivalry heat up – bloody territorial fights are an everyday occurrence, with the vanquished male forced to lurk hapless on the open plains until it gathers sufficient confidence to mount another challenge.

Dry Season in Katavi:

June – Mid November: Best time for game viewing.

December – February: Humid & Hot: Good time for game viewing.

Rainy Season in Katavi:

Mid November – Mid December: Short Rain :Wonderful for birdlife and lush scenery

April – May: heavy rain: Wonderful for birdlife and lush scenery.

Most of the lodges are usually closed from April to May.

Getting to Katavi:

Road: 2 days drive from Mbeya

Flight: 5 hour flight from Dar es salaam via Ruaha / flight from Arusha