Come here to see chimps and experience natural locations that are off the beaten track The Western Circuit embraces the parks along Lake Tanganyika, the western border of Tanzania with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The vast space in a remote natural location makes the circuit worth a visit. Gombe Stream National Park was made famous by Jane Goodall’s research on its chimpanzee population and subsequent habituation. Mahale Mountains National Park further south, on the shores of the gin-clear waters of Lake Tanganyika, is a more authentic chimpanzee experience and highly recommended. You’ll have to go further to find the chimps but you’ll get a better idea of how chimps are in the wild than by observing them at feeding pens. Katavi National Park is another 150km towards the south-east of Mahale and probably gets fewer than 500 tourists a year.