Gombe Stream National Park
History
The people of the area belong mainly to the Ha tribe, descendants of the Bantu peoples who came into the area many centuries ago from West Africa. They lived here remote from the outside world, until Arab traders from Zanzibar began in the early 19th century to visit Ujiji (just south of Kigoma) to collect slaves. The Arabs' influence can still be seen today, for they brought with them Islam and mango trees, both of which now flourish in the Kigoma area. In recent years, people from other parts of Tanzania and from Burundi and Zaire have also settled here.
Arab reports of a great inland lake convinced British explorers Burton and Speke that this might be the source of the Nile. (The British wanted to control the source of the Nile, to protect their assets in Egypt. The search for the source was one of the great expeditionary quests of the 19th century). Following the slave route from Zanzibar, they were the first Europeans to reach Lake Tanganyika in 1858. Burton thought this was the source, but Speke guessed, correctly, that the lake lay too low. He continued exploring until he found Lake Victoria, which he declared to be the true source.
To resolve the problem, the veteran explorer Dr. David Livingstone began a thorough exploration of Lake Tanganyika in 1866. He disappeared for the next five years, which aroused great curiosity in Europe and America. The American journalist, Henry M. Stanley, went in search of him, and in 1871 the two men had their famous meeting at Ujiji, where Livingstone was resting from his travels. (You can visit the monument commemorating this encounter, in Ujiji town). Livingstone had discovered that the lake's only outlet was the Lualaba river, which flowed north-west and this, he thought, might curve round to join the Nile. Stanley returned home but Livingstone continued exploring the lands surrounding the lake, and died in 1873 in Zambia.
In 1874 Stanley returned to Africa, determined to resolve the mystery of the lakes. He circumnavigated Lake Victoria in 1875, then Lake Tanganyika in 1876, then he set off down the Lualaba river by boat. He reached the Atlantic Ocean in 1877, proving that Lake Tanganyika drained westward and had nothing to do with the Nile.
The explorations of such men, and their discoveries of immense natural resources, helped to cause the European"scramble for Africa", and by 1884 the Germans had laid claim to what are now Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi. For the next 30 years they developed an administrative network in "German East Africa". In 1905 work began on constructing a railway line, traveling westward from Dar-es-Salaam along the old slave route, reaching Kigoma after nine years and 1250 kilometers. This made Kigoma the major port on the lake.
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| The Ship That Came By Train
Another remarkable feat of the Germans was to send a 1300-ton steamship, the Graf von Goetzen, in pieces by train from Dar-es-Salaam to Kigoma. She was assembled there during World War I, which by then had spread to East Africa. Before her maiden voyage, the ship was bombed by a Belgian aircraft, and when their defeat became apparent, the Germans themselves sank her in the lake. There she remained until 1924, when the British salvaged her. Renamed the Liemba, she starred in a film"The African Queen" and continues to this day to carry passengers and cargo from end to end of the lake.
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At the end of World War I, the British took over the administration of"Tanganyika Territory" and continued to explore and develop its resources. In 1943, they gazetted the Gombe Stream Game Reserve, to protect its chimpanzees and its forests, much of which already had been extensively cleared. The people living there were forced to leave the Reserve, and today dense thickets mark the sites of their villages.
In 1960 a young British woman, Jane Goodall, arrived at the Reserve to begin a study of wild chimpanzees. She was sponsored by Louis Leakey, the paleontologist, who believed that by studying the behavior of the great apes, we could learn about our own evolution. Goodall set up camp at Kasakela, and began watching the shy, alert apes in the forest. Frustratingly, for months the chimps seemed to be unapproachable.
But in 1961, the year that the new nation of Tanzania celebrated its independence, the chimpanzees began to accept Goodall. By accident, she discovered that they liked bananas, and by regularly feeding them at her camp she encouraged them to overcome their fear of people. She could soon recognize individuals, and began documenting every aspect of their behavior. As well as describing their rich and varied social life, she discovered that chimpanzees share many human attributes, such as tool-use, hunting and warfare. Her work was made known worldwide through her magazine articles and books, and Hugo van Lawick's brilliant photography.
In 1968 the Reserve became a National Park, to give added protection to this world-famous chimpanzee population. Jane Goodall's study, which she thought would only last for a year or two, now continues into its fourth decade. It is the longest-running study of any wild animal population in the world.
Special Thanks to Thomson Safaris and Tanzania National Parks for contributing Tanzanian information.
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