In the forests of western Tanzania, once alive with the pant-hooting calls of chimpanzees, an unsettling silence is spreading. At Gombe Stream National Park is the birthplace of Dr. Jane Goodall’s research this quiet is no longer poetic. It is a warning.
Once a global symbol of coexistence between humans and great apes, Gombe now sits at the center of a crisis linking deforestation, population pressure, climate change, displacement, and public health. As forests disappear, chimpanzees are vanishing with them, along with a vital ecological and health buffer between wildlife and humans.
Tanzania is home to an estimated 2,500 chimpanzees, yet about 75 percent live outside protected areas, according to the UN Great Apes Conservation Partnership. This makes them highly vulnerable to habitat loss, poaching, and human encroachment.
When the Forest Goes Silent
Chimpanzees play a critical role in forest ecosystems by dispersing seeds and shaping vegetation. In western Tanzania, however, their voices are fading. Satellite data from Global Forest Watch show that between 2001 and 2023, Tanzania lost more than 2 million hectares of tree cover roughly the size of Wales. Much of this loss occurred around Lake Tanganyika, Gombe, and the Shuza Mountains, the last strongholds of the country’s great apes.
NASA imagery confirms severe forest decline in Kigoma, particularly around the Gombe Mountains, reducing food and shelter for apes and forcing them into unsafe areas where they are attacked or killed.
Kigoma District Wildlife Officer Alfred Msangi attributes the destruction to population growth, illegal logging, mountain farming, burning, and hunting. District authorities report that about 2 percent of the 10,030-hectare Gombe–Burundi chimpanzee corridor has already been destroyed, while habitat loss across Gombe, Shuza, Sabha, Mgongo, and Kavula hills is estimated at 7.5 percent annually.
“Years Pass Without a Sound”
For communities living near the park, the loss is deeply personal.
“We used to hear chimpanzees every morning,” says Moshi Batumunwa, a farmer and councilor in Mwamgongo Ward. “Now, years pass without a sound. Even with tree-planting programs, forests are shrinking and animals are disappearing.”
Seventy-year-old Issa Tumuza from Kilemba village recalls that from the 1960s to the 1990s, apes were common. “Today, many young people have never seen or heard a chimpanzee,” he says. “This is not good for the ecosystem or for us.”
Local residents stress that chimpanzees are harmless and only entered farms in the past due to forest degradation. “Humans are responsible for changing their behavior,” Tumuza says.
A Population in Freefall
According to Tanzania National Parks Authority (TANAPA), Gombe’s chimpanzee population has collapsed from about 300 in 1980 to 90 in 2023, and just 85 today.
Ecologist Sila Mbise of TANAPA warns that only one functional wildlife corridor remains, linking Gombe to Burundi through village forest reserves. “This corridor is under intense pressure from farming, settlement, and cross-border migration,” he says.
Although afforestation efforts are underway through Gombe National Park and the Jane Goodall Institute’s Roots & Shoots program, they are not keeping pace with deforestation. Fragmented forests are splitting chimpanzee groups, increasing aggression, reducing mating opportunities, and accelerating decline.
Climate change is worsening the situation. Rising temperatures and invasive plant species are degrading remaining habitat, while the loss of migration corridors prevents interbreeding between chimpanzee communities.
Encroachment and Disease Risk
More than 60% of deforestation near Gombe and Mahale is driven by illegal farming and charcoal production. Kigoma’s population grew by 37% between 2012 and 2022, pushing settlements deeper into ape habitat.
This encroachment increases human–wildlife contact and the risk of zoonotic diseases. In 2023, Tanzania confirmed its first outbreak of Marburg virus, linked to wildlife-human interaction.
Under Tanzania’s One Health Strategy (2022–2027), supported by WHO, FAO, and CDC, disease surveillance and community awareness have improved. However, scientists warn that fragmented forests could turn apes into secondary disease carriers due to overlapping habitats.
At the same time, US funding cuts following the Trump administration’s cancellation of foreign aid have affected conservation and health programs, including those supporting wildlife corridors and community health initiatives.
Conservation Under Strain
Kigoma District plans to plant 1.5 million trees annually and remove forest invaders, but funding gaps remain severe. US-supported conservation projects many implemented through the Jane Goodall Institute have been scaled back or halted.
“We are now relying on local revenue, which cannot match the scale of the problem,” says district natural resources officer Vincent Muhezi.
Despite this, community-based conservation is showing promise. Local forest guardian networks using mobile phones to report illegal logging have helped slow forest loss by up to 20 percent in some areas since 2021.
A Choice for the Future
Conservationists agree that protecting great apes is no longer just a wildlife issue. It is about livelihoods, public health, history, and who controls Tanzania’s forests.
Tanzania’s National Chimpanzee Conservation Action Plan (2018–2028) sets strong goals, but communities say they are rarely involved in implementation.
Unless conservation moves from policy papers into community hands, the voices that once defined Gombe’s forests may soon fade into permanent silence.
–ChannelAfrica/ProsperKwigize–
