The Katavi National Park is situated in Western Tanzania. Its landscape is shaped by swamps, forests, bushes, lakes and rivers. Here you can find larger mammals and birds. Zebras, buffaloes, impalas, elephants, hippos, warthogs and giraffes, as well as lions, leopards, hyaenas, cheetahs, wild dogs and crocodiles can be discovered in the park. The west of Tanzania is difficult to access and therefore far from any tourist routes. You can reach the Katavi National Park via charter flight from Arusha or Dar es Salaam, or via scheduled flight from Dar es Salaam with Precision Air to Kigoma.
Directly at the east bank of Lake Tanganyika, you can find the Gombe Stream National Park. Covering an area of about 51 km², it is the smallest national park of Tanzania. A stretch of mountain forest crossed by deep canyons makes this national park so special. Jane Goodall has observed and studied chimpanzees here, which are also the main attraction of the park.
The Mahale Mountains National Park covers over 1650 km² at the east bank of Lake Tanganyika, stretches from a height of 800 m up to 2400 m and is situated 150 km south of Kigoma. Its highest peak is Mount Nkungwe (2400 m).
The landscape of the national park is mainly shaped by the Mjombe Forest and the rain forest, which stretches up to a height of 2000 m. About 700 chimpanzees live there, as well as about 230 different bird species. Apart from the chimpanzees, there are various other monkey species, warthogs and leopards. However, you won’t find any buffaloes, rhinos and elephants.
