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DeutschTanja's Travel Report: A safari with changed plans, chimpanzees and quite a bit of magic
Some trips unfold exactly as planned. And then there are trips where Tanzania seems to say: lovely plan, but I have another idea. Tanja’s journey to western Tanzania in August 2024 clearly belongs in the second category.
It all began with a wish that was very clear: to see chimpanzees. Not somewhere in a zoo, not from a safe distance behind glass, but where they truly live. In the forest. In Gombe. On Lake Tanganyika. In a place whose name already sounds a little like adventure and, by the time you arrive, makes it clear that this is not a classic safari route.
But before Tanja even arrived in Tanzania, her trip had to be adjusted several times. First, after booking, a domestic flight was cancelled and the route had to be reorganised. A few months later came the next change: one of the planned parks was no longer accessible because of flooding. Shortly before departure, the outbound flight also changed, making an additional stay in Paris necessary. The original itinerary became a moving puzzle of new options, new routes and new decisions.
No one is thrilled when a trip they have been looking forward to for a long time suddenly has to be rearranged. “At first there was a certain disappointment, then soon the realisation that it could also be a chance to see something else,” she remembers. Thanks to close support from Tru Safari and direct relationships with local partners on the ground, the changes ultimately still became an unforgettable journey.
The journey west begins with little sleep and a lot of water
After arriving in Dar es Salaam, Tanja and her travel companion had only a short night at the hotel. Early the next morning they continued: transfer to the airport, small aircraft to Kigoma, a short drive to the harbour and then by boat across Lake Tanganyika to Gombe National Park.
On paper, that sounds like many stages. For Tanja, however, it was exactly this route that made the start so special. “Arriving in Gombe by boat was a perfect start to the days there,” she says.
In Gombe, Tanja was accompanied by her private guide. The programme included several chimpanzee treks, walks through the national park and a canoe trip on Lake Tanganyika. Her accommodation, Mbali Mbali Gombe Forest Lodge, was located directly on the lake, in the middle of this mix of forest, water and wilderness.
For Tanja, Gombe was one of the strongest parts of the trip. “The area around Gombe is unique. It starts with the journey there, which was more than worth it. You did not feel like a tourist, but like a guest.”
That sentence describes quite well what makes Gombe special. It is not the kind of safari where you drive from sighting to sighting. It is less about pace and more about presence. You move on foot, listen to the forest, follow tracks, wait and observe. And then something can suddenly happen that you cannot plan.
For Tanja, this included a baby chimpanzee that ran towards her and then briefly startled when it noticed her. A large chimpanzee family crossed the path loudly just about two metres in front of her. A chimpanzee mother drank from a river with her baby on her back.
“Actually, all encounters with the chimpanzees are kind of magic.” No more pathos is needed here. When wild chimpanzees move through the forest so close in front of you, “kind of magic” is pretty accurate.
And then there were the baboons
Of course, wilderness is not made only of elegant moments and deep looks into nature. Sometimes wilderness also means baboons behaving as if they had signed the lease for the lodge.
Tanja describes it with humour: at the lodge, the cheeky baboons almost made you feel a little as though you were in a “cage”. Of course, it was understandable all the same.
It is exactly these details that make a trip tangible. If you stay in the middle of nature, you get not only sunsets and chimpanzees, but also the everyday life of the animals.
Remoteness, peace and a little Jane Goodall
What particularly touched Tanja about Gombe was not only the wildlife. It was also the atmosphere. “It was one of the most beautiful things about the whole trip, the remoteness and the peace.”
In Gombe, there is no feeling of being part of a large tourist movement. There are few visitors, and the atmosphere is personal, almost familiar. Tanja clearly felt the joy and pride of the guides. They were not simply showing her a national park, but a place that has meaning.
This also includes the connection to Jane Goodall. Gombe is known worldwide for her work and for chimpanzee research. For Tanja, that made the stay even more impressive. You move through a place that is enormously important for conservation, research and our understanding of chimpanzees.
And yet the trip remained light. There were conversations, encounters, evening moods and humour. Tanja remembers her small Swahili language course, whose words still appear in everyday life today. Funny conversations with Sixtus, her guide in Gombe. Encounters with lodge staff. And buying fish in the middle of the lake on the day they travelled from Gombe to Kigoma.
Even today, something of this attitude still resonates. This quiet, steady “Pole Pole” has become more than a memory for her - more like an inner compass that keeps reminding her to slow down, to notice consciously and to allow moments of calm and composure even in a hectic everyday life. The journey left traces, not loudly, but lastingly.
From Gombe to Katavi. Or: yes, this transfer is long.
After the days in Gombe, the journey continued south. First by boat back to Kigoma, then by vehicle towards Katavi National Park. In the travel programme, the transfer was listed as around seven to eight hours. So not exactly a short stroll.
Tanja honestly admits that this transfer worried her a little beforehand. On such a remote route, that is understandable. You ask yourself: what are the roads like? How tiring will it be? Is it manageable?
What she appreciated was that the expected travel time and approximate road conditions were clearly communicated in advance. Once there, the concerns quickly disappeared. “The vehicle for the transfer was in excellent condition and our concerns were unfounded.”
If Gombe was forest, lake and chimpanzees, then Katavi was vastness.
Tanja describes it like this: “In Katavi we felt ‘Africa’ more strongly through the vastness. It came closer to a ‘classic’ safari.” Katavi National Park is one of Tanzania’s more remote parks, known for open plains, wilderness and significantly fewer visitors than the well-known routes in the north.
Full-day game drives were planned here. Early in the morning they set out through wide landscapes, to waterholes, through savannahs and back to Mbali Mbali Katavi Lodge. The region feels more original, slower and less staged.
And then there were the “Blueball Monkeys” they encountered in Katavi. One of those encounters you do not expect - and that stays in your memory precisely because of that. Tanja was fascinated by these striking, almost slightly eccentric-looking animals, moving through the trees with a mix of seriousness and surprising dynamism. Sitting with dignity like little thinkers one moment, then quite naturally on another branch the next - as if they followed their own logic. An encounter that made them smile more than once.
Gombe was “unique” for Tanja. Katavi was the safari feeling with remoteness. Together, these two places created a trip that did not simply show “Tanzania”, but two very different sides of the country.
The flight that apparently wanted to sleep in as well
On the departure day from Katavi, it became clear once again why flexibility on a trip like this is not just a nice extra, but sometimes worth gold.
The crew got up especially for Tanja and her travel companion at four in the morning so that everything would be ready in time for the flight from Mpanda. Then, at the last second, it turned out that the flight was delayed by several hours.
This could have become a very long morning at a small airstrip. But it did not. “The whole crew was extremely flexible and we all went back to bed. We were incredibly glad not to have to spend the long hours of waiting at the airstrip.”
That people in Tanzania look after one another also showed in her guides. During the trekking in Gombe, patience was needed. Especially on the first day, it took some time before the hoped-for encounters happened. Her guide kept going, Tanja says: “Sixtus never gave up and we were rewarded.”
At the same time, he adapted the trekking to her needs and physical fitness. This is particularly important on chimpanzee treks. It is not about rushing through the forest as sportily as possible, but about creating an intense experience safely and appropriately.
Tanja also describes Barack in Katavi as “super”. Overall, she felt welcome, well looked after and free at the same time. “You felt welcome and you could simply enjoy yourself and be yourself.”
For Tanja, it was a “great mix of professionalism and African culture”.
Should everyone now plan a safari in western Tanzania?
A trip to Gombe and Katavi is not the classic first-time route for everyone who simply wants to “go on safari”. Tanja herself says: “Gombe has nothing to do with a ’normal’ Africa safari.”
And precisely for that reason, it is worth thinking carefully beforehand about what matters to you. Do you want to see as many well-known places as comfortably as possible? Then there are other routes. Do you want to experience chimpanzees in their natural habitat, discover remote regions and have peace instead of density? Then western Tanzania may be exactly right.
Tanja recommends being clear in advance about your own priorities. Physically, too, such a trip can be demanding, depending on fitness and the daily programme. The treks are full of experiences, but they are still treks. The transfers are part of the journey, but they are not always short. The remoteness is beautiful, but it remains remote.
“But if you have the same needs as we did, then it is not too complicated and certainly not too adventurous. Of course, that also has to do with the good organisation.” Her conclusion is correspondingly clear: “We always felt very well looked after and in good hands.”
What remains in the end: kind of magic!
Tanja’s journey was not a perfect glossy story in which everything happened exactly as originally planned. There were changes of plan, new route decisions, a last-minute flight change, a long transfer, cheeky baboons and a delayed flight from Mpanda.
But that is exactly why this trip is so worth telling.
Because it shows what individually planned travel with a specialised travel partner at your side really means. Not that nothing ever happens. But that you communicate openly, find alternatives, have good partners on the ground and do not turn changes into a crisis, but into a new path.
And perhaps exactly there lies a piece of “Hakuna Matata”. Not in the sense of “everything is perfect”, but as an attitude of accepting things as they come - with composure, trust and a little lightness. Problems are not made bigger than they are, but often resolve themselves as you keep moving.
In the end, what stayed with Tanja was not the memory of complications, but of chimpanzees in the forest, evening moods in Gombe and Katavi, humour with the guides, fish on the lake, vastness, peace and the feeling of being in good hands.
Or, in her own words: “When I think back to the trip, I immediately become a little melancholic again.”
And perhaps that is one of the most beautiful compliments you can give a journey.
Thank you, Tanja, for sharing your experiences with us!
