8 Days Katavi, Mahale and Gombe Tanzania Safaris
Places You'll See
Tour Overview
Tour to Katavi National Park, Gombe Stream National Park and Mahale Mountains National Park are beauty and unique. There are parks without roads where you can walk and experience nature with all your senses. All Game Viewing at the Parks are done on foot. The biggest attraction of these Parks is the highly habituated chimpanzees but there is a large number of Olive Baboons and different species of Monkeys such as Red Colobus, Blue Monkeys etc.
Day-by-Day Itinerary
Day 1 Flight from Arusha/ Dar es Salaam to Katavi National Park
Pick up from your hotel in Arusha and transfer to Arusha airport for a shared charter flight to Katavi National park which operate only on Monday and Thursday of every week. As you arrive Katavi you will be picked up by our driver guide and transfer to your Lodge for check in and lunch.
Afternoon depart for a game drive till evening when you will drive back to the lodge for dinner and overnight.
Day 2 A Full Day of Walking Safaris & Game Drives in Katavi
Morning after breakfast, with packed lunch enjoy full day game drive as you explore this remote western wilderness. Katavi is the third largest park in Tanzania but is one of the least visited – you will likely see no other vehicles during your stay,and you can expect huge herds of herbivores and pods of hippos, and a kaleidoscope of birds. Katavi National Park is at its best in the dry season, when the plains fill with thousands of zebra, topi and impala. Hartebeest, giraffe, and Defassa waterbuck are also very common,there’s a large population of resident elephants,and some impressive herds of buffalo.
Day 3 Depart for the Mahale Mountains
Take breakfast; then take a shared chartered flight (one-hour) to the Mahale Mountains. Transfer in boat along Lake Tanganyika. Afternoon foot-walking safari in the Mahale Mountains.
Day 4 Chimpanzee tracking - Mahale Mountains
Morning after breakfast Chimpanzee tracking in the forest, Chimpanzee tracking is the main attraction at Mahale, and is always given a high priority. Tracking usually begins early in the morning, with the guides usually starting at the area where the Chimpanzees nested the previous night and tracking from there.
Day 5 Depart Kigoma Town for the Gombe
After breakfast transfer to the lake side for boarding the boat directed to Gombe Stream National park. With only 53 sq km this is the smallest park in Tanzania, is located about 20 km North of Kigoma and can be reached only by boat. The main attraction is the chimpanzee families that live protected in the park’s boundaries. Visitors take walks deep into the forest to observe and sit with the extraordinary primates for an entire morning. Gombe became well known for the conservation project started from Jane Goodall, who first arrived in Gombe in1960. Apart from chimpanzee viewing, many other species of primates live in Gombe Stream’s tropical forests, like velvet and colobus monkeys, baboons. On arrival you will be picked and transferred for lunch at your lodge. Afterwards proceed for Chimpanzee tracking in the forest.
Day 6 & 7 Game Viewing & Chimpanzee Tracking
Full day trekking in Gombe for the Chimpanzees. A visit to the forest and then, the feeding station. Proceed to the water falls and visit the Lake.
Day 8 Gombe/Kigoma – Arusha/Dar Es Salaam
The morning after breakfast, with picnic lunch boxes, relax at the beach while waiting for a transfer boat at 12:00 noon, ready for transfer back to the airstrip for catching your charter flight back to Dar es Salaam or Arusha city at 5:30pm.
Day 9 Departure Date/Flight Day
A Zanzibar holiday can be arranged right after your safari trip. The departure dates for all our safaris and tours, packages are totally flexible according to your own personal needs. Please contact us for further and more detailed info on safaris, tours and travel packages into Tanzania.
End of tour
âž” Additional accommodation can be arranged for an extra cost.
➔ You’ll be dropped off at the airport.
Tour Price Inclusion and Exclusion
- Park fees
- All activities (unless labeled as optional)
- All accommodation as stated in the itinerary
- A professional driver/guide
- All transportation (unless labeled as optional)
- All Taxes/VAT
- Roundtrip airport transfer
- All Meals (as specified in the day-by-day section)
- International flights (from/to home)
- Additional accommodation before and at the end of the tour
- Tips (tipping guideline US$10.00 pp per day)
- Personal items (souvenirs, travel insurance, visa fees, etc.)
- Government imposed increase of taxes and/or park fees
- Alcohol drinks