Western Wildlife Research Centre is located in western Tanzania along Lake Tanganyika shore in the Bangwe area within Kigoma-Ujiji Municipal. Wildlife research activities in Tanzania West, particularly the Mahale mountains, started in 1965 by a Japanese researcher, Nishida. This researcher was under the supervision of Professor Itani from Kyoto University, Japan. This centre was established by the Wildlife Division in 1975 as Kasoge Chimpanzee Research Station to conserve chimpanzees in Kasoge Forest and Mahale Mountains. However, the station was handed over to Serengeti Wildlife Research Institute in 1980 as one of the five research centers named Mahale – Gombe Wildlife Research Centre. In 2023, the centre was merged into the Western Wildlife Research Centre by Government Notice No. 260 (GN 260), to reflect its broader mandate of supporting wildlife research across Tanzania’s western zone (Tabora, Kigoma, and Katavi Regions).

The centre’s primary responsibilities include conducting wildlife research in Western Tanzania, understanding chimpanzees’ behavior and ecology, wildlife conservation challenges, promoting chimpanzees as a tourist attraction, and overseeing wildlife research conducted in western Tanzania.