About Mahale
If you enjoy remoteness, beautiful landscapes and wildlife Mahale Mountains National Park is surely one of the most spectacular places to visit in all of Africa. Distance and cost notwithstanding, you owe it to yourself to somehow drum up the budget to get there at least once in a lifetime!
Chimpanzees may be the main draw, but they are by no means the whole picture. Pristine forested mountains tower up behind intimate sandy beaches and bays and rocky promontories of the eastern shores of Lake Tanganyika.
Mahale Wildlife
The forests at Mahale have a wealth of wildlife besides the 1,000 or so Chimpanzees. There are 6 species of monkey (yellow baboon, vervet, blue, red-tailed, Angolan colobus, and red colobus), duikers, bush pig, leopard, bushbuck, myriads of birds, etc.
Things to do
- Chimp watching
- Kayaking
- Fishing
- Swimming and snorkeling
- Cultural visits by boat can be arranged to border communities
Getting there
By Air
The easiest way to and from Mahale is via scheduled flights. The flight from Arusha takes 3 hours, usually with a refueling stop en route. There is a 1 ½ – 2-hour boat ride from the lodges to and from the airstrip at the Park boundary. Outside this season flights still operate but confirmation will be needed with the operators.
It is also possible for visitors to arrange their own charter flights with private companies. Private charters can be arranged from most of the major cities of mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar.
By Road
Mahale can be accessed by a road that follows Lake Tanganyika from Kigoma.
By Water
Mahale can be accessed by boat and private boats can be hired in Kigoma for the journey. The famous German-built ship the M.V.Liemba travels the length of Lake Tanganyika twice a month in each direction, and one of the ports of call is Lagosa at the Mahale Mountains.
Safari ideas
Mahale is often combined with the nearby Katavi National Park. Most of the regularly scheduled flights to and from Mahale have the option of routing via Katavi. This makes it easy to combine chimp viewing with watching the big game heartland of Katavi plus the many wildlife options in Northern Tanzania.
While in Kigoma you may visit the Dr. Livingstone Monument in Ujiji the place where Richard Burton and John Speke first reached the shore of Lake Tanganyika in 1858. It is the site of the famous meeting held on 27th October 1871 when Henry Stanley met Dr. David Livingstone, and reputedly uttered the famous words “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?”. A monument known as the “Dr. Livingstone Memorial” was erected on the site to commemorate the meeting. There is also a modest museum. There is a former slave route near the market. In 1878, the London Missionary Society established their first missionary post on the shore of Lake Tanganyika at Ujiji.