Gombe National Park (/ˈɡɒmbi, ˈɡoʊmeɪ/) is a national park in Tanzania. It is located in the Kigoma District, which is part of the Kigoma Region. The park was previously known as Gombe Stream National Park.

Overview

Created in 1968, it is one of the smallest national parks in Tanzania, covering 35 km (13.5 square miles) of land along the hills on the eastern side of Lake Tanganyika. The area is known for its steep valleys and a variety of plant life, including grasslands, woodlands, and tropical rainforests. The park can only be reached by boat and is famous for being the place where Jane Goodall began her studies on the behavior of common chimpanzees. The Kasakela chimpanzee group, shown in many books and films, lives in Gombe National Park.

Wildlife

Gombe National Park includes grasslands, woodlands, steep valleys, and tropical rainforests. It has one of the highest numbers of primates in Africa. Chimpanzees live with other primates, such as beachcomber olive baboons, red colobus monkeys, red-tailed monkeys, blue monkeys, and vervet monkeys. Red-tailed monkeys and blue monkeys sometimes mix their genes in the area.

The leopard is a main predator of chimpanzees, other primates, and bushpigs. The park is home to about 200 bird species, as well as hippos, small antelopes, and many snake species.

Gombe National Park is famous for being the place where Jane Goodall did important research on chimpanzees and other primates. In 1960, at age 26, Goodall traveled to Tanzania without formal college training. At that time, little was known about chimpanzee behavior or how their groups were organized. Her research showed that non-human animals, especially chimpanzees, have complex thinking and emotional abilities. With help from anthropologist Louis Leakey, Goodall started a small research station in Gombe to study chimpanzees. She spent months following chimpanzee groups, especially the Kasakela community, and observed their daily activities until she was accepted by one group and could study their society closely.

Without college training, Goodall noticed things that strict scientific rules might have missed. Instead of numbering the chimpanzees she studied, she gave them names like Fifi and David Greybeard and saw that they had unique personalities, an unusual idea at the time. She found that chimpanzees showed emotions such as joy and sorrow and used actions like hugs, kisses, and pats on the back, which people often think are only human behaviors. Goodall said these actions showed the strong, caring relationships between family members and others in a chimpanzee group, which can last over 50 years.

Goodall’s research challenged two long-held beliefs: that only humans could make and use tools, and that chimpanzees only ate plants. She observed a chimpanzee using grass stalks to fish for termites by inserting them into termite holes and pulling them out covered in termites. The chimpanzees also stripped leaves from twigs to make them better for fishing, a simple form of toolmaking. Humans had long considered themselves different from other animals as "Man the Toolmaker." In response to Goodall’s findings, Louis Leakey wrote, "We must change how we define humans, tools, or accept that chimpanzees are similar to humans." Over time, Goodall found evidence that chimpanzees have abilities like reasoning, abstraction, and even self-awareness, which were once thought to be only human traits.

In addition to peaceful behaviors, Goodall also saw aggressive actions. She found that chimpanzees hunt and eat smaller primates, such as red colobus monkeys. She watched a group trap a colobus monkey in a tree, block its escape, and then one chimpanzee climbed up to kill it. The others shared the carcass with others in the group. Chimpanzees in Gombe eat about one-third of the colobus population each year. Goodall also saw dominant female chimpanzees kill the babies of other females to keep their status, sometimes even eating the babies.

Goodall lived in Gombe almost full-time for 15 years, and the data she collected is still valuable to scientists today. In 1967, the Gombe Stream Research Centre (GSRC) was created to continue chimpanzee research in the park. Run mainly by trained Tanzanians, the GSRC is the longest study of an animal species in its natural habitat, now over 60 years old. This long-term data has helped scientists understand chimpanzee population trends, male relationships, hunting, culture, and mother-infant bonds across generations. It also helps scientists learn about threats to chimpanzees, such as disease, poaching, and habitat loss, which also affect other animals in Gombe. Goodall’s work changed how scientists study animal behavior. Before, talking about animal emotions was considered making up human traits, but her observations showed that animal societies and relationships are complex. Her research on chimpanzee needs also helps design better protected areas. The GSRC also studies baboon populations through the Jane Goodall Center for Primate Studies.

Conservation

The biodiversity of Gombe National Park is mainly affected by people moving into the area. Even though 25% of Tanzania is protected in parks and reserves, wildlife numbers are getting smaller. This happens because park managers, government groups, and nearby villages are not working together. Lands owned by villages often lie between parks and block animal paths between protected areas. Without reasons to keep animals safe, people in villages may hunt them for food or kill them to avoid danger. Poverty also increases the need for resources.