WESTERN CIRCUIT – TANZANIA

Destination

OVERVIEW

The Western Circuit is an exclusive circuit that offers plenty of attractions. The Circuit stands as the best destination for spotting primates. Let Jovial safaris endorse you with an impressive view of Chimpanzee families. Not only primates, but the Western Circuit National Parks also offers a great chance for wildlife viewing in its various National Parks and Game Reserves.

GOMBE NATIONAL PARK

There are truly wild places in Tanzania, Gombe National Park is one of them. The nature value of Gombe was noticed in 1943 when it was designated as a game reserve. Gombe gained its popularity after the pioneering research activities of Dr Jane Goodall in 1960 which is believed to be the longest running study of primates in the world.

Conservation status was upgraded to that of a National Park in 1968 and opened for tourism in 1978 after chimpanzee habituated to human visitors. It is located 16 km north of Kigoma town on the shores of the world’s second deepest Lake Tanganyika in western Tanzania with an area of 56 square kilometers.

MAHALE MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK

The Mahale National Park which holds and protect the largest known population of chimpanzees, the jungle and the mountains. Visiting the park is a gratifying experience as you have a chance to carry game drive, chimp-trekking, hiking, snorkeling and bird watching. The establishment of this Park was a reflection of the government commitment to preserving the chimpanzee population as well as an emulation of the efforts by Japanese researchers who pioneered to conduct research on primates including chimpanzees.

RUBONDO ISLAND NATIONAL PARK

Rubondo Island was gazetted officially as National Park in 1977. It is an important breeding ground for both migratory bird and fish species especially Tilapia and Nile perch as for a long time it stood to be the only area in the waters of Lake Victoria which was well protected and preserved.

About 80% of the park is covered by a dense forest thus providing a variety of habitats for indigenous wildlife such as Sitatunga, hippos, bush bucks, velvet monkeys, genet cats, crocodiles, bush pigs etc sharing the ecological niches with the introduced species such as chimpanzees, elephants, giraffes, black and white colubous monkeys, suni and African grey parrots.

SAANANE ISLAND NATIONAL PARK

A Park that is located on an island in the Lake Victoria covering an area of 2.18 Km2. It’s the only National Park within the city limits.The island was named after Mzee Saanane Chawandi, a local farmer and fisherman. We are honored to have you with us always and your presence is our motivation to do better. Enjoy your stay.

The Island is a home to free roaming mammals such as zebra, impala, rock hyrax, velvet monkey and wild cat. It’s the only place in Tanzania where you might encounter the De-brazza’s monkey.

BURIGI-CHATO NATIONAL PARK

Stretching from Lake Victoria in the East to the Rwandan boundary in the West, Burigi-Chato is an enormous piece of wild country encompassing fresh water lakes, long hills, rocky crags along escarpments, deeply set valleys lined with forest, open plains, swamps, rivers, flood plains and hundreds of square kilometres of medium and tall grass wooded savanna – mostly combretum and Terminalia known as Miombo.