AFRICA: inDriver From Russia Is Uber’s Latest Competitor In Africa

Global ride-hailing giant Uber has gone from having no competitors in Africa to having more than 50.

While it mainly contends with Taxify, the Estonian ride-hailing service, which is now in more African cities, Uber also faces competition from homegrown options like the Safaricom-backed Little Cabs in Kenya and regional players like Careem across North Africa.

In fact, it tried to merge with Careem this year, but Egyptian regulators warned against the deal.

The latest market entrant is inDriver, a Russian ride-hailing company, which has launched in Arusha, Tanzania, its first market on the continent.

The five-year old company operates in nine other countries across South and Central America as well as Europe. Long-term, inDriver hopes to differentiate its service by allowing drivers and riders haggle over final fare prices while it sets base fare price.

inDriver is also hoping to rapidly grow its driver pool by charging no commissions on driver earnings for six months after which it will begin charging 5% to 8% in commissions—much lower than either Uber or Taxify.

Drivers will also be able to view both pick-up and destination points before accepting rides.

inDriver’s play for drivers is not entirely new as incentivizing drivers has already proven to be a major part of the scrap for ride-hailing market share in Africa.

But what it offers in driver incentives, inDriver will likely lack in financial might compared to the biggest players on the continent. It raised $10 million in its Series B funding round earlier this year. Uber and Taxify are both billion-dollar unicorns.

Neither is showing any signs of slowing down on growing its Africa operations either. Taxify is eyeing ten-fold growth in the next two years and already operates in more African cities than Uber.

For its part, Uber is looking to add Rwanda, Ivory Coast, Senegal and Mauritius among potential targets to the eight African countries in which it already operates.

Uber has also shown a deeper interest in fitting into local transport ecosystems and has launched lower cost ride-hailing options with rickshaws in Kenya and motorcycles in Uganda.

It’s now looking to roll out a new service in Nairobi to allow users book spots on commercial mini-buses—locally known as matatus—which remain the most common form of transport in the city.


Tourism Observer

TANZANIA: inDriver Introduced In Tanzania

International online ride-hailing service inDriver now available in Arusha.

Arusha becomes the first city in Africa, where residents can set the cost of their trips

inDriver, an international online ride-hailing service, headquartered in New York, today becomes available to the inhabitants of Arusha. inDriver users can independently set the price for the trip, while drivers can choose the most profitable and convenient orders.

The only way to use taxi now in Arusha is to discuss the cost of the ride with driver directly. You cannot be sure if there will be drivers in place you want to leave, or if there will be enough passengers for good income today.

inDriver is a simple-to-use app that gives you possibility to make the rides that you want to make. For taxists inDriver is the easiest way to get more passengers just with their smartphones. And passengers use inDriver to have fare prices for their rides.

Arusha is the first city in Tanzania and in the whole continent, where international service inDriver was launched. The service has already connected more than 300 cars in Arusha, and dozens of new drivers are being registered daily.

At the initial stage after the start, inDriver will not charge drivers any commission.

inDriver has the option to make the rides safer. Passengers can share their rides with relatives or friends in messenger or social media just with one button.

This button was designed to make passengers sure that their near and dear people will not worry. The passengers can use "Share" button whenever they want during the trip.

Travelling with inDriver can be done throughout Arusha's city borders. Currently, one can pay for the ride only in cash, which allows to further reduce the cost of the trip, as when paying by card, the bank charges an additional commission.

All last week inDriver has been working in Arusha in test mode to collect first feedback. This week showed that prices became more attractive for passengers.

For example, for a ride from Clock tower to Philips with inDriver, users paid just 3000 shilingi, from Mianzini to Mount Meru Hospital 6000 shilingi.

Arusha is one of the most dynamic and large cities in the country with residents being in need to have good ride-hailing app. Until today, passengers could not order taxi ride from home and had to go to taxi station even in rain.

Taxi drivers had to sit many hours every day without orders. inDriver came to change this situation. We want customers and drivers have the most comfortable app for rides.

Already today, residents of Arusha, using inDriver, will be able to make the rides that they need at the time they need and from places they want.

Soon people in other big cities of Tanzania will be able to use it as well, said Yegor Fedorov, Business Development Director, inDriver.

You can download inDriver for free from the Google Play Store and AppStore.

Contacts for media: info@361africa.com

During the New Year holidays of 2012, the temperature dropped below -45C in the city of Yakutsk, Siberia, in Eastern Russia.

As a result, local taxi drivers simultaneously doubled the cost of rides — leaving riders out in the cold.

In response, the inhabitants of Yakutsk created an "Independent Drivers" group on Russia's social network, where people posted ride requests, listed the price they were willing to pay, and drivers accepted their orders.

In just six months, more than 60,000 people had joined the group. Not long after, the mobile app inDriver was created to replace the group, allowing passengers to independently set the most optimal terms for their rides.

Today, the service is used by 12 million users in 148 cities in 10 countries.


Tourism Observer

TANZANIA: Ol Doinyo Lengai The Mountain Of God

Ol Doinyo Lengai, Mountain of God in the Maasai language, is an active volcano located in the Gregory Rift, south of Lake Natron within the Arusha Region of Tanzania.

Part of the volcanic system of the East African Rift, it uniquely produces natrocarbonatite lava.

The 1960 eruption of Ol Doinyo Lengai led to geological investigations that finally confirmed the view that carbonatite rock is derived from magma.

There is only one volcano in the world which is erupting carbonatite lava: Ol Doinyo Lengai in Tanzania.

This is not just another dry fact for nerdy scientists: this volcano is very unusual place without analogues in the world.

The volcano is some 370 thousand years old and is the youngest volcano in this part of the East African Rift.

Ol Doinyo Lengai is unique among active volcanoes in that it produces natrocarbonatite lava, a unique occurrence of volcanic carbonatite. A few older extinct carbonatite volcanoes are located nearby, including Homa Mountain.

Whereas most lavas are rich in silicate minerals, the lava of Ol Doinyo Lengai is a carbonatite. It is rich in the rare sodium and potassium carbonates, nyerereite and gregoryite.

Due to this unusual composition, the lava erupts at relatively low temperatures of approximately 510 °C (950 °F).

This temperature is so low that the molten lava appears black in sunlight, rather than having the red glow common to most lavas. It is also much more fluid than silicate lavas, often less viscous than water.

The sodium and potassium carbonate minerals of the lavas erupted at Ol Doinyo Lengai are unstable at the Earth's surface and susceptible to rapid weathering, quickly turning from black to grey in colour.

The resulting volcanic landscape is different from any other in the world.

The carbonatite ash spread over the surrounding grasslands leads to a uniquely succulent, enriched pasture.

This makes the area a vital stage on the annual wildebeest beast migration, where it becomes the nursery for the birth of several thousand calves.

Of course, local people noticed this giant volcano which is rising tall above the dry plains south from Lake Natron.

In East African Rift are located many magnificent volcanoes, not too far are the magnificent Mount Meru and Ngorongoro Crater.

But this volcano was very special to Maasai people - it was a sacred place named Mountain of God or Ol Doinoy Lengai.

This part of Africa was one of the last places reached by white people, first European visitors to Ol Doinyo Lengai were German explorers in the late 19th century.

This volcano is very active, every few years here takes place an eruption.

One of these eruptions in 1960 attracted the attention of Canadian geologist John Barry Dawson who was mapping this part of Tanzania.

He and Ray Pickering descended in the crater of volcano, this was the first known descent in the crater in October 1960 and immediately noticed that this volcano is very unusual.

Soon after, in 1962 there was published his research and the first and only active carbonatite volcano on Earth was discovered.

Since then Ol Doinyo Lengai has been a playground for geologists exploring this unique natural wonder. Dawson himself continued the research until his decease in 2013.

Today volcano is rather popular tourist attraction. Fittest visitors are ascending the mountain under the heat of the equatorial Sun and try to get closer to live volcanic activity.

This is dangerous - this weird volcano is even less predictable than others and threats are looming in seemingly calm places.

Nearly all volcanoes on Earth are spewing lavas which consist of silicate minerals. Only some have been erupting lava which per more than 50% consists of carbonate minerals - carbonatite lavas.

There are known some 20 locations of former carbonatite volcanoes but Ol Doinyo Lengai is the only one which is active now.

Mountain of God is erupting not just carbonatite lava, it is producing very specific, rare kind of it: natrocarbonatite lava.

It consists of carbonate minerals - the very rare nyerereite (Na2Ca(CO3)2) and gregoryite (Na2,K2,Ca)CO3.

This material needs considerably lower temperature for melting - this lava is flowing already at 500 - 600 °C temperature and in the daylight this lava is not even glowing - it is just a flow of pitch black stream.

In the night lava glows in orange color. Usual lavas have a temperature os some 1100 °C.

Carbonatite lava is also quite fluid in comparison to common silicate lavas, it is the most fluid lava in the world flowing almost like a water often faster than a person can run.

Flow of this lava looks like dark oil or brown, muddy foam.

As the lava hardens, it is pitch black, with glistering crystals in it. But it is not for long: these carbonatite lavas are quickly weathering. In a few hours time the stone turns white due to the moisture.

If the weather is dry, lava turns white in a few days time. If the rain is raining lava becomes white immediately.

This is caused by a chemical reaction similar to a reaction of burnt lime. Due to this both nyerereite and gregoryite are very rare minerals which even in geological collections should be kept in argon atmosphere.

Over the time the white lava turns into brown powder. After few months lava is soft, one sinks in it when walking.

The landscape of Ol Doinyo Lengai is unique, without analogues in the world.

Ol Doinyo Lengai is the only active volcano in Tanzania. It is very active and is erupting lava and ash every few years.

Sometimes, when the content of silicates in lava increases, eruptions of volcano become explosive, sometimes starting with impressive lava fountains such eruption took place in 2007 - 2008.

Before these eruptions there happened many earthquakes, even lions left the area and it was also decided to evacuate also people and their cattle in safe distance from the volcano.

During the eruptions in the crater often form hornitos, smaller hills and even towers, which emit the carbonatite lava. Lava sometimes forms short-lived lava lakes.

Since 1983 the lava has gradually filled the crater and now it is filled with carbonatites and it seems that this is endangering the stability of crater rims.

As the carbonatite lava spread over the surrounding plains, it has changed the soil. These grasslands are rich with succulents and serve as pasture for numerous wildebeest calves.

The record of eruptions on the mountain dates to 1883. Flows were recorded between 1904 and 1910 and between 1913 and 1915.

1917 - A major eruption in June 1917 deposited volcanic ash up to 48 kilometres (30 mi) away.

1926 - An eruption took place for several months in 1926.

1940 - An eruption between July and December 1940 deposited ash as far as Loliondo, 100 kilometres (62 mi) away.

1950s - Several minor eruptions of lava were observed in 1954, 1955, and 1958.

1960s - Minor eruptions of lava were observed in the early 1960s.

A major eruption occurred on 14 August 1966. Geologists J. B. Dawson and G. C. Clark visited the crater a week later and reported seeing a thick column of black ash that rose for approximately three thousand feet above the volcano and drifted away northwards towards Lake Natron.

When they climbed the cone-shaped vent, they reported seeing a continuous discharge of gas and whitish-grey ash and dust from the centre of the pit.

2007 - Volcanic activity in the mountain caused daily earth tremors in Kenya and Tanzania from 12 July 2007 until 18 July 2007 at 8.30pm in Nairobi. The strongest tremor measured 6.0 on the Richter scale.

Geologists suspected that the sudden increase of tremors was indicative of the movement of magma through the Ol Doinyo Lengai.

The volcano erupted on 4 September 2007, sending a plume of ash and steam at least 18 kilometres (11 mi) downwind and covering the north and west flanks in fresh lava flows.

2008 - The 2007 eruption continued intermittently into 2008. At the end of February it was reported to be gathering strength, with a major outburst taking place on 5 March.

Periods of inactivity were followed by eruptions on 8 and 17 April. Eruptive activity continued until late August 2008.

A visit to the summit in September 2008 discovered that lava emission had resumed from two vents in the floor of the new crater. Visits to the crater in March/April 2009 showed that this activity appeared to have ceased.

2010 - In October 2010, two separate lava flows and a small lava lake were photographed in an overflight.

2013 - The volcano resumed natrocarbonatite lava flow which started to fill the large crater from the 2007-2008 eruption.

As of July 2013, there was a large active hornito on the western edge of the crater floor. During June, residents near the volcano reported several earthquakes.

The new crater is inaccessible and climbers have only occasionally glimpsed into it.


Tourism Observer

MOZAMBIQUE: Mozambique's Tourism |Industry Welcomes Visa On Arrival, Dodoma Airport For 24 Hour Service

The government of Mozambique has now, for a significant number of nationalities, introduced Visa on Arrival, doing away with the cumbersome method of tourists having to apply in advance given the lack of global diplomatic representation.

44 border posts have been designated for the purpose including all the international airports such as Maputo but also Pemba, Nampula, Beira, Vilanculos and Inhambane.

In addition have key land border posts been designated for the purpose including land borders from South Africa, Zimbabwe and Tanzania.

Visa on Arrival are also available at the port of Maputo to encourage cruise ship stops and enable visitors to come on shore without the previous bureaucracy involved.

The cost of a Visa, which allows entry and one additional re-entry, was given as US Dollars 50 per person.

Mozambique's tourism industry has welcomed the move and is looking at vastly improved arrival figures for the years ahead even though language challenges remain a factor as the penetration of English remains relatively low.

Runway lights at Dodoma Airport has been completed. This will enable the airport, which currently handles only about 10 flights a day, to operate around the clock.

Night landings are now possible but presently not likely to happen. Right now do our flights operate during day times only and so do all other airlines flying charter or schedule to DOD.

But this is progress for the aviation industry and for instance urgent medical evacuations can now take place even at night after the lights were installed.

Airlines even begin to offer flights into and out of Dodoma at night to make better use of their fleet but that is still under plan .

The airport is served by Air Tanzania, Auric Air and Flightlink among other airlines flying daily or multiple times a week to Tanzania's political capital.

Dodoma one of Tanzania's airports earmarked for expansion and modernization and with the new lighting system in place has this objective been fulfilled.

The IATA code for Dodoma is DOD while the ICAO four letter code is HTDO. The runway length was given at 8.038 feet length or 2.450 metres, all tarmac.

In 1973, Dodoma was designated as the new political capital of Tanzania. New Parliament buildings were erected and plans were drafted to shift all government Ministry offices to Dodoma by the early 1980's.

However, due to limited water supplies and other environmental factors, this proved impossible and the plan was all but forgotten.

Most ministries and all embassies are still in Dar Es Salaam. Although Dodoma retains the title of capital city of Tanzania, government officials only travel to Dodoma for a few weeks each June when the government is in session.

There are many daily buses from Dar es Salaam. Driving time is seven to eight hours with a stop in Morogoro. Luxury buses leave from Ubungo. Around 11 AM buses from Dar and Dodoma leave which are air conditioned and have more leg space.

There are buses to and from Arusha via Kondoa to the north. The road is not paved, and can be bad in the rainy season. The highway is known as the Great Northern Highway.

Travel time is often in excess of 12 hours, and breakdowns are common. The best plan would be to use Kondoa as an intermediate overnight point and continue north or south the next day.

There are also buses to and from Iringa. Travel time is about six hours on a winding gravel road of varying quality. The road passes right over the Mtera Dam which is worth a look.

Dodoma is situated on the Central Railway Line which goes from Dar Es Salaam to Mwanza or Kigoma. However, the train currently (March 2010) only operates between Dar Es Salaam and Dodoma due to damage near Tabora.

If you are in a hurry the better choice is by bus. If the train service is running again and you are heading west, train is better, especially in the rainy season.

Air Zara flies daily with the exception of Saturday between Dodoma and Dar es Salam for 250.000 TSH on Monday and Thursday, also to Mbeya.

Tickets can be bought at the New Dodoma Hotel. Mission Aviation Fellowships' MAF) small planes fly throughout the country; they have a regular shuttle between Dodoma and Arusha every Monday and also fly regularly to Nairobi and Mbeya.

It is also possible to join other flights, for more information see their website and subscribe to their Joiner List.

There are many minibuses (dala dala) in Dodoma and getting around is easy. Taxis are plentiful too. There are three bus stations: city, at a place called Jamatini; medium distance, at the Saba Saba bus stand, to moderate-distance places such as Mpwapwa and Mvumi.

Long-distance buses leave from the main stand near the Parliament buildings. Some companies, eg. Scandinavia, maintain their own bus stands.

Another way to get around is by bike. There are several places in town which sell or rent (5.000 TSH/day) bikes.

UGANDA: Precision Air To Relaunch Entebbe Flights

Tanzania Precision Air services Plc, the only publicly quoted airline company in Tanzania listed on the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange, has announced their intention to relaunch flights to Uganda through the Entebbe International Airport.The scheduled flights are expected to start from 01st July 2017.

The announcement which was made an hour ago stated that Precision Air will operate four flights per week with two nonstop flights from Dar es Salaam and two services routing via Kilimanjaro.

Commenting on the relaunch, Precision Air’s commercial Director Mr. Robert Owusu, said that the decision to relaunch flights to Entebbe came after a market study which revealed that there was significant demand for flights between Tanzania and Uganda after rival Fastjet pulled out of the route in early December last year.

Apart from the business relationships Tanzania and Uganda have a very rich history and we are going to honor that history by connecting the two countries through our services. We will start with four flights per week every Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Passengers between Tanzania and Uganda should expect affordable and reliable flights he said.

Precision Air suspended flights to Entebbe back in 2013 during the route rationalization process and network restructuring. Mr. Owusu said that after the company reviewed their decisions taken at the time they concluded that Entebbe was a worthy addition to Precision Air’s already established extensive network on domestic routes and to Nairobi.

'Tickets sale is expected to commence on the of 10th March 2017 and passengers can book either directly by visiting the our website, our sales offices or through their preferred travel agents. We encourage early booking for best fares and we remind our passengers to take advantage of our online booking for discounted fares' Mr.Owusu added in closing.

Precision Air is currently the only IATA member in Tanzania and has recently announced a codeshare agreement with Etihad allowing the airline to offer more connection for passengers. Operating from Dar es Salaam does Precision Air fly to Arusha, Bukoba, Kigoma, Kilimanjaro, Musoma, Mtwara, Mwanza, Tabora, Zanzibar and Nairobi and from July onwards also to Entebbe again.

Details about the opening of a Precision Air office in Uganda will be announced shortly here, so keep watching this space for breaking and regular aviation news from across the Eastern African region.

TANZANIA: Uber Goes To Tanzania

Dar es Salaam has now joined the UBER revolution in East Africa as the latest city after Nairobi, Mombasa and Kampala, where the service was launched just three weeks ago.

This makes good of the promise the company made on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum for Africa, held in Kigali last month, evidence that the local transport industry needs shaking up.

Alon Lits, UBER's General Manager for Sub Saharan Africa, expressed his delight over the latest addition when he said that he was proud to see the company expand so rapidly and so successfully.

It remains to be seen if the web based transport hailing service will also expand to Arusha or Mwanza, Tanzania's second and third largest cities, as in particular Arusha is commonly referred to as East Africa's safari capital and visited by tens of thousands of foreign tourists as they embark on their safaris.

TANZANIA: Precision Air To Fly To Pemba May 2016

Precision Air, Tanzania's only publicly quoted airline, has confirmed that Pemba, the second largest island of the Zanzibar archipelago, will be added to their domestic network come 24th of May, using an ATR turboprop aircraft.

The island will initially be served three times a week, in conjunction with flights to Unguja, every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

The flights are expected to boost both tourism and trade between the Tanzanian mainland and Pemba and also makes it easy to fly from Unguja to the sister island.

Precision currently flies from its hub in Dar es Salaam to Kilimanjaro, Arusha, Mwanza, Mtwara, Kigoma, Tabora, Musoma, Bukoba and Unguja / Zanzibar and Pemba will be the 11th destination across their domestic route network.

Precision Air is part owned by Kenya Airways and provides essential feeder services to flights then connecting passengers via Nairobi into the KQ network across Africa, Europe, the Gulf, India and the Far East.

TANZANIA: Precision Air Returns To Musoma

Precision Air just announced their imminent return to Musoma, after halting services two years ago due to the poor conditions of the runway and apron which led to damage to one of their ATR aircraft. Following major improvements made by the Tanzania Airport Authority has the airline, after assessing the status of the airport, agreed to resume flights with immediate effect.

The Dar es Salaam to Musoma flights will operate every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday for the time being, joining 10 more Precision Air destinations across the country and beyond, those being Dar es Salaam, Zanzibar, Arusha, Kilimanjaro, Mwanza, Bukoba, Tabora, Kigoma, Mtwara, Nairobi and now Musoma.

Precision Air’s Commercial Director, Mr. Robert Owusu said that the move was triggered by the demand in the market. He stated that the flight has been positioned to cater for passengers who had to drive from Musoma to catch flights in Mwanza. ‘We had temporarily suspended the Musoma route due to the airport’s unfavorable conditions which had caused damage to the aircraft.

Since then, there have been some improvements made to the airport infrastructure that make it safe for our aircraft to land and take-off from there. As service providers, we also understand the inconveniences that passenger from Musoma had to go through by driving for about 4 hours to catch flights in Mwanza. We believe our flights to Musoma will not only stimulate trade in Musoma but also the tourism industry’.

Precision Air operates an all ATR aircraft fleet comprising both the ATR 42 and the larger ATR 72 models which are well suited to fly in and out of secondary and tertiary airports and aerodromes.

TANZANIA: Mount Kilimanjaro National Park

Kilimanjaro. The name itself is a mystery wreathed in clouds. It might mean Mountain of Light, Mountain of Greatness or Mountain of Caravans. Or it might not. The local people, the Wachagga, don't even have a name for the whole massif, only Kipoo (now known as Kibo) for the familiar snowy peak that stands imperious, overseer of the continent, the summit of Africa.

Kilimanjaro, by any name, is a metaphor for the compelling beauty of East Africa. When you see it, you understand why. Not only is this the highest peak on the African continent; it is also the tallest free-standing mountain in the world, rising in breathtaking isolation from the surrounding coastal scrubland – elevation around 900 metres – to an imperious 5,895 metres (19,336 feet).

Kilimanjaro is one of the world's most accessible high summits, a beacon for visitors from around the world. Most climbers reach the crater rim with little more than a walking stick, proper clothing and determination. And those who reach Uhuru Point, the actual summit, or Gillman's Point on the lip of the crater, will have earned their climbing certificates.
And their memories.

But there is so much more to Kili than her summit. The ascent of the slopes is a virtual climatic world tour, from the tropics to the Arctic.
Even before you cross the national park boundary (at the 2,700m contour), the cultivated footslopes give way to lush montane forest, inhabited by elusive elephant, leopard, buffalo, the endangered Abbot’s duiker, and other small antelope and primates. Higher still lies the moorland zone, where a cover of giant heather is studded with otherworldly giant lobelias.

Above 4,000m, a surreal alpine desert supports little life other than a few hardy mosses and lichen. Then, finally, the last vestigial vegetation gives way to a winter wonderland of ice and snow – and the magnificent beauty of the roof of the continent.

About Kilimanjaro National Park
Size: 1668 sq km 641 sq miles).
Location: Northern Tanzania, near the town of Moshi.

Getting there
128 km (80 miles) from Arusha.
About one hour’s drive from Kilimanjaro airport.

What to do
Six usual trekking routes to the summit and other more-demanding mountaineering routes.
Day or overnight hikes on the Shira plateau. Nature trails on the lower reaches.
Trout fishing.
Visit the beautiful Chala crater lake on the mountain’s southeastern slopes.

When to go
Clearest and warmest conditions from December to February, but also dry (and colder) from July-September.

Accommodation
Huts and campsites on the mountain.
Several hotels and campsites outside the park in the village of Marangu and town of Moshi.

More info on accomodation

NOTE:
Climb slowly to increase your acclimatisation time and maximise your chances of reaching the summit.
To avoid altitude sickness, allow a minimum of five nights, preferably even more for the climb. Take your time and enjoy the beauty of the mountain.

NOTE 2:
NEW RATES FOR PORTERS AND GUIDES
(JUNE '08)

Porters
USD 10 per day
Cooks
USD 15 per day
Guides
USD 20 per day

TANZANIA: Gombe Stream National Park

Gombe Stream National Park

An excited whoop erupts from deep in the forest, boosted immediately by a dozen other voices, rising in volume and 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 individual vocal stylisations. 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.

Gombe is the smallest of Tanzania's national parks: a fragile strip of chimpanzee habitat straddling the steep slopes and river valleys that hem in the sandy northern shore of Lake Tanganyika. Its chimpanzees – habituated to human visitors – were made famous by the pioneering work of Jane Goodall, who in 1960 founded a behavioural research program that now stands as the longest-running study of its kind in the world. The matriarch Fifi, the last surviving member of the original community, only three-years old when Goodall first set foot in Gombe, is still regularly seen by visitors.

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 power brokers, 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, under study since the 1960s, is exceptionally habituated, while red-tailed and red colobus monkeys - the latter regularly hunted by chimps – stick to the forest canopy.

The park’s 200-odd bird species range from the iconic fish eagle to the jewel-like Peter’s twinspots that hop tamely around the visitors’ centre.

After dusk, a dazzling night sky is complemented by the lanterns of hundreds of small wooden boats, bobbing on the lake like a sprawling city.

About Gombe Stream National Park
Size: 52 sq km (20 sq miles), Tanzania's smallest park.
Location: 16 km (10 miles) north of Kigoma on the shore of Lake Tanganyika in western Tanzania.

Getting there
Kigoma is connected to Dar and Arusha by scheduled flights, to Dar and Mwanza by a slow rail service, to Mwanza, Dar and Mbeya by rough dirt roads, and to Mpulungu in Zambia by a weekly ferry.
From Kigoma, local lake-taxis take up to three hours to reach Gombe, or motorboats can be chartered, taking less than one hour.

What to do
Chimpanzee trekking; hiking, swimming and snorkelling;
visit the site of Henry Stanley's famous “Dr Livingstone I presume” at Ujiji near Kigoma, and watch the renowned dhow builders at work. .

When to go
The chimps don't roam as far in the wet season (February-June, November-mid December) so may be easier to find;
better picture opportunities in the dry (July-October and late December).

Accommodation
1 new luxury tented lodge, as well a self-catering hostel, guest house and campsites on the lakeshore.

NOTE
Strict rules are in place to safeguard you and the chimps. Allow at least 2 days to see them - this is not a zoo so there are no guarantees where they'll be each day.