Tanzania safari in West Tanzania : Situated on the north-eastern beaches of Lake Tanganyika and near the borders with Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kigoma is a city and lake port in Tanzania’s Kigoma-Ujiji District. With 232,388 residents as of the 2022 census, it serves as the capital of the nearby Kigoma Region. The city is located 2,543 feet (775 metres) above sea level.
Transport in Kigoma
As the only port with a direct connection to the ocean port at Dar es Salaam and a working railway connection (the one at Kalemie in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is not active at the moment, Kigoma is one of the busiest ports on north-eastern Lake Tanganyika. Kigoma Port, located in Kigoma Bay, features a 660-foot (two hundred-meter) dock, multiple cranes, and the capacity to accommodate shipping containers. But because of soil erosion from the nearby hills, the bay is silting up, and the water depth at the wharf side has dropped from six metres (20 feet) to just 1.8 metres (5 feet 11 inches). This could pose a risk to the port’s economic expansion.
The Tanzanian government unveiled plans in May 2007 to establish an economic zone at the port in order to promote trade and guarantee steady port growth for the governments that will hold power in 2015 and 2020. Every week, the MV Liemba leaves Kigoma and sails to Mpulungu, in Zambia, which is located near the southern end of Lake Tanganyika. En route, it makes stops at several other Tanzanian lakeside villages. At the northern edge of the lake, the MV Mwongozo sails from Kigoma to Baraka, Uvira, and Bujumbura; however, it is not operating at the moment. Every week, additional ships from Burundi and the Congo make port calls at Kigoma Port.
The Tanzania Railways Corporation’s Central Line connects Kigoma, the Port of Dar es Salaam, and Tabora and Dodoma with the shore of the Indian Ocean. When Kigoma was a part of German East Africa, it was finished in 1915. There’s a ferry connection from Tabora to Mwanza on Lake Victoria, which leads to other lakeside locations in Tanzania and, historically, Uganda. You can take a train from Tabora to Mpanda as well. The line was closed for a while in the beginning of 2010, but it looks like service has since resumed.
Gombe Stream National Park
Gombe Stream National Park is readily reached by boat from Kigoma town, which is 16 km to the south, and is located near Tanzania’s western border. Encompassing a narrow strip of mountainous country bordered to the east by the crest of the Great Rift Valley escarpment and to the west by Lake Tanganyika, the second-deepest and longest lake in the world at a depth of 1400 metres, Gombe Stream is one of Tanzania’s smallest National Parks, spanning just 52 square kilometres.
Gombe Stream is a road less game park where you can explore the natural world on foot with a park guide, much like its sister park, Mahale Mountains, to the south. The park has a variety of vegetation types, including open woodlands, meadows, and evergreen forests with tall trees. Jane Goodall’s research made the chimpanzees in the park famous, making them the park’s most unique feature. Gombe’s main Tanzania safari attraction for tourists is its chimpanzee population, which is considered one of the world’s endangered species. Forest species are also frequently encountered; these primarily consist of primates, such as baboons, blue, vervet, red-tailed, and red colobus monkeys. In Gombe Stream National Park, there are around 200 different kinds of birds.
Mahale Mountains National Park
Mahale Mountains National Park is located on a peninsula in Lake Tanganyika on Tanzania’s western border, 120 km south of Kigoma town. With a total size of 1613 square kilometres, the Mahale Mountains Chain, which stretches from northwest to southeast across the centre of the park, is its dominant feature. Mount Nkungwe, the park’s highest peak, rises 2,462 metres above sea level. In addition to the 63 km of lakeshore, the 1.6 km broad strip of neighbouring coastal waters is also protected by its western limit. The majority of the park’s vegetation is Miombo woodland, with small areas of riverine forests, savannah, and rain forest scattered throughout, all of which serve as home to a variety of animal species.
Along with other rain forest animals like the Angolan colobus monkey and other primates, the Mahale Mountains, like its northern neighbour Gombe Stream, are home to some of Africa’s few remaining wild chimpanzees, believed to number 800. Roan antelopes, sable antelopes, and Lichtenstein hartebeest are among the species that may be found in Miombo woodland. Meanwhile, warthogs, giraffes, grant’s zebras, hyenas, and lions can be found on the savannah.
Mahale is a secluded park without roads that can only be reached by boat or light aircraft. There are about 82 species of mammals known to exist there. On your Tanzania safaris to Mahale Mountains National Park with approximately 350 bird species identified, the park has a diverse bird population. Mahale is bounded to the west by Lake Tanganyika, the longest, second-deepest, and possibly least polluted freshwater lake in the world. It is home to a wide variety of fish species, including over 250 that are unique to our planet. Visitors can enjoy a range of activities at Mahale, such as monitoring naturally habituated chimpanzees, hiking, snorkelling, fishing, kayaking, and lounging on the immaculate, white, sandy beaches of Lake Tanganyika.
Katavi National Park
Located in the Katavi Region of Tanzania, Katavi National Park was established in 1974. In comparison to other national parks in Tanzania, this one is far more isolated and receives less visitors. The park is the third largest national park in Tanzania, with an area of about 4,471 square kilometres (1,726 square miles). The Katuma River and the temporary floodplains of Lake Chada and Lake Katavi are included in the park.
Large animal herds, especially of Cape Buffaloes, zebras, giraffes, and elephants, as well as crocodiles and hippopotami along the Katuma River—which, during the yearly dry seasons, create mud holes that can hold hundreds of hippos—are among the area’s wildlife characteristics. This park is home to a variety of carnivorous creatures, including lions, hyenas, leopards, wild dogs, and cheetahs. There are claims of a loss in species due to unlawful hunting and poaching, probably for the purpose of obtaining “bush meat,” although some sources claiming the park has an extremely high biodiversity. The greatest density of mammals was found in the southeast of the Park, close to Lake Chada.
