| Duration: | 5 Day(s) - 4 Night(s) |
| Tour Category: | Trekking Tours |
DAY 1: Arusha/Kigoma
Location: Arusha/Kigoma
Activity: Flight from Arusha to Kigoma
Early morning shared charter flight from Arusha to Kigoma. Upon arrival at the Kigoma airport, you will be met by our representative who will pick you up and transfer you from the airport to the Kigoma Hilltop Hotel. You will have lunch at the hotel and in the afternoon take a trip to Ujiji town and Livingstone Memorial. Ujiji is the oldest town in western Tanzania, located about 10km south of Kigoma town. It was a slave trade town settled by Arab peoples.
It is also the place where Burton and Speke first reached the shore of Lake Tanganyika in 1858 and where Dr. Livingstone met Stanley in 1871. A monument known as the Dr. Livingstone Memorial was constructed to commemorate the meeting. There is a former slave route near the market. Enjoy the afternoon exploring this town and later return to Kigoma Hilltop Hotel for dinner and overnight.
Kigoma Hilltop Hotel: Set on a remote outcrop amongst acres of lush gardens overlooking Lake Tanganyika, Kigoma Hilltop Hotel is the ideal stopover point for safaris to the western parks. The hotel has just been completely refurbished and makes the perfect place for relaxation, with a wonderful inviting atmosphere and every modern comfort for the weary traveler.
The hotel boasts two restaurants, serving dishes to suit everyone’s taste. Enjoy freshly caught Nile Perch at the thatched open-deck poolside restaurant, overlooking the lake with a very relaxed and friendly atmosphere, or an authentic Indian dish in the Sangara Restaurant.
DAY 2: Gombe Forest
Location: Gombe Forest
Activities: Chimpanzee Tracking
Early morning after breakfast at the hotel, depart for a two-hour dhow boat transfer to Gombe Stream National Park arriving for lunch at the Gombe Forest Lodge. Depart from the lodge for an afternoon of chimpanzee trekking. This can vary from half an hour to four hours depending on where the chimpanzees will be located.
As you track the chimpanzees in the thick forest, you will pass through beautiful scenery and hear thrilling sounds of birds, insects, monkeys, and other inhabitants of the forest. Return to the lodge for an evening sundowner. Dinner and overnight at Gombe Forest Lodge.
Gombe Forest Lodge: In the lush shade of ancient forest trees just off the shores of Lake Tanganyika, lies the small yet intimate Gombe Forest Lodge. It offers complete privacy by catering for just 14 guests at a time.
This is a lodge totally at ease with its surroundings with a delightful atmosphere. The cozy dining area, just a couple of steps off the beach, is built on a wooden platform with an extended outside deck shaded by the Forest. A small library with a selection of books and novels is also available.
DAY 3: Gombe Forest
Location: Gombe Forest
Activity: Chimpanzee Tracking
Breakfast at the lodge, then depart for morning chimpanzee trekking. The tracking usually starts early in the morning and can vary from half an hour to four hours depending on where the chimpanzees will be located.
An excited whoop erupts from deep in the forest, boosted immediately by a dozen other voices, rising in volume tempo, and pitch to a frenzied shrieking crescendo. It is the famous ‘pant-hoot’ call: a bonding ritual that allows the participants to identify each other through their vocal stylizations. To the human listener, walking through the ancient forests of Gombe Stream, this spine-chilling outburst is also an indicator of imminent visual contact with man’s closest genetic relative: the chimpanzee.
Return to the lodge for lunch, an afternoon at leisure, and evening sundowners, which are served around the fire under the dazzling night sky, which is complemented by the lanterns of hundreds of small wooden fishing boats, bobbing on the lake like a sprawling city. Dinner and overnight at Gombe Forest Lodge.
DAY 4: Gombe Forest
Location: Gombe Forest
Activity: Chimpanzee Tracking
Breakfast at the lodge, then depart for a morning of chimpanzee trekking. Chimpanzees share about 98% of their genes with humans, and no scientific expertise is required to distinguish between the individual repertoires of pants, hoots, and screams that define the celebrities, the powerbrokers, and the supporting characters. Perhaps you will see a flicker of understanding when you look into a chimp's eyes, assessing you in return - a look of apparent recognition across the narrowest of species barriers. The most visible of Gombe’s other mammals are also primates.
A troop of beachcomber olive baboons, understudy since the 1960s, is exceptionally habituated, while red-tailed and red colobus monkeys - the latter regularly hunted by chimps – stick to the forest canopy.
Return to the lodge for lunch, an afternoon at leisure, and evening sundowners.
DAY 5: Gombe/ Kigoma/ Dar
Location: Gombe/ Kigoma/ Dar
Activity: Transfer back to Kigoma & departure
Breakfast at the lodge before the two-hour transfer by dhow to Kigoma. Pick-up and transfer from Kigoma Hilltop Hotel to the Kigoma Airport, then depart with a shared charter flight from Kigoma to Arusha or Dar-er-salaam. Includes packed lunch.
Included:
Full board Accommodation
Meals Daily
Park Entrance fees
1x Chimpanzee trek per day
Return Flights
Snorkeling
Airport transfers in Kigoma
Soft drinks and Bottled waters
Laundry Services
Boat Hire,Kigoma-‐Gombe-‐Kigoma
Tour Guide fees
Camp & Concession Fees
Return Airstrips transfers
Extra meal, Packed lunch on the day of departure
Not Included:
Airport Taxes
Aviation Safety Fees
Alcoholic Drinks
Medical evacuation
Gratuities
Items of personal nature
