10-Day Western Circuit: Rubondo, Gombe & Mahale

A member of the Gip Adventure team meets you at 08:00 at Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam, at Kilimanjaro International Airport or at your hotel, and checks you in for your domestic flight west. On landing you are met again and transferred by road and then by boat to your camp on Rubondo Island in Lake Victoria.

Your eco-friendly camp has just eight cottages and immerses you in a unique ecosystem barely touched by people. Enjoy lunch and a short rest, then head out on a late-afternoon excursion in the park.

Established in 1977, Rubondo Island National Park covers 457 km², of which the main island accounts for 240 km², and protects 11 islets, none much larger than 2 km² – making it Africa's largest island national park. The island has no rivers and its soils are volcanic. All meals and overnight on Rubondo.

Spend the whole day exploring Rubondo. Green all year round, the island measures 28 km from north to south and 10 km from east to west. Closed-canopy lowland forest covers 80% of its surface, with grassland, acacia woodland, rocky areas and sandy beaches making up the rest, and temperatures rarely stray outside 20–25°C, day or night.

Choose from walking safaris, boat excursions, canoe trips, game viewing and licensed sport fishing. Lake Victoria is free of bilharzia and swimming is reputedly safe at the beaches in front of the camp – but crocodiles do occasionally swim past, so look before you leap. Dinner and overnight on Rubondo.

After breakfast at around 08:00, enjoy a final half-day excursion on Rubondo, then return to camp for lunch before transferring to Mahale Mountains National Park on the shore of Lake Tanganyika.

Your lodge here stands on the beach at the edge of the forest and the foot of the mountains, with six open-fronted bandas, starlit dinners on the sand, sundowners aboard a traditional dhow and kayaking on the lake – one of the very best places to encounter chimpanzees in Tanzania. All meals and overnight in Mahale.

Mahale lies 100 km south of Kigoma, curving for 50 km along Lake Tanganyika, and covers 1,613 km². Gazetted in 1985, it is a park explored entirely on foot, with no roads inside its boundaries. Its vegetation ranges from the evergreen Kasoge Forest to miombo woodland, montane forest and high-altitude grassland.

Today you set out on foot with your ranger to find the chimpanzees, which share the forest with a healthy population of other primates and a great variety of plants and animals. In the afternoon, return to the beach to swim, snorkel or sunbathe. Dinner and overnight in Mahale.

The attractions of Mahale fall into three main groups – natural, scenic and cultural. The northern, most accessible part of the park is fringed with pristine beaches, set between the steep rise of the mountains behind and the majestic expanse of Lake Tanganyika in front.

Spend the day as you choose: swimming, snorkelling, picnicking and sunbathing, birdwatching, hiking in the mountains or visiting the sacred sites of the Tongwe people. The client itinerary also suggests the Kalambo Falls, described as Africa's second-highest waterfall. Dinner and overnight in Mahale.

After a warm breakfast at around 08:00, you travel north along the lake to Gombe Stream National Park. Officially established in 1968, the park covers 56 km² – it was enlarged from 52 km² in 2013 – and lies about 16 km north of Kigoma, a narrow mountainous strip running 16 km along the shore and 5 km inland to the peaks of the rift escarpment.

Your lodge is set in the shade of ancient forest trees on the shore of Lake Tanganyika, offering complete privacy, a small library, reliable service and breathtaking views. All meals and overnight in Gombe.

A full day's excursion gives you every chance to set eyes on Gombe's great apes. Follow your ranger along forest trails to find a chimpanzee community, and spend time watching them feed, groom and play.

In the afternoon, enjoy wildlife viewing along the shore or a swim in the lake. Gombe's lake zone extends about 1 km into Lake Tanganyika, protecting the shallow, oxygen-rich waters along the shore – ideal for swimming and sunbathing. Dinner and overnight in Gombe.

Today's hikes take you to the Kakombe and Mkenke waterfalls and up to Jane's Peak, with scenic views over the forest and the lake. There is time, too, for more chimpanzee tracking if you wish.

Later, go fishing, enjoy a lakeshore walk or simply relax on the beach. Dinner and overnight in Gombe.

Your final full day in Gombe is yours to enjoy at your own pace. Head out by boat or canoe along the lakeshore, go birdwatching along the forest edge, or return to the forest for one last visit to the chimpanzees.

As evening falls, watch the sun set over Lake Tanganyika on your last night in western Tanzania. Dinner and overnight in Gombe.

After a warm breakfast at around 08:00, you are transferred to Kigoma airstrip for your domestic flight to Dar es Salaam or Kilimanjaro International Airport, connecting with your international flight home.

This itinerary can be extended into Tanzania's northern or southern circuits or to Zanzibar, and can also be quoted with budget or mid-range accommodation.