Mahale
My Safari
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Mahale National Park is Tanzania's most remote park, and is bordered by Lake Tanganyika, the largest freshwater lake in the world and the second deepest. It is mainly forested and mountainous and can only be explored on foot. Mahale National Park is also rich in birdlife as well as being home to kudu, eland, roan and sable antelope. Buffalo, elephant, lion and leopard can also be found here. Mahale National Park has a unique ecology with lowland forests, open woodland as well as moist and dry grasslands. Access to the park is by boat or plane as there are no roads, and this remoteness, coupled with the quality of accommodation here, does make visiting here an expensive option.
However Mahale Park's principle attraction is, of course, that it is widely regarded as the best location for seeing wild chimpanzees in the whole of Africa. Walking safaris (from May to October) are the only way to get around here, and hence these also provide the ideal opportunity to see the chimps in their natural habitat. Incidentally, it was in the more northerly Gombe Stream National Park, also fronting on to Lake Tanganyika, that Dr Jane Goodall carried out her world famous research into chimpanzee behaviour.
Wildlife Highlights:
Chimpanzee trekking is of course the principal reason for visiting Mahale. Approximately 800 chimps live here.
Searching for mankind's nearest relative can be an unforgettable experience. Sharing similar features and habits, chimpanzees are our closest relatives in the animal kingdom. They are not fond of rain and prefer to live in forest canopies at the summit of hills. They feed mainly on insects and small fruits.
Viewing the chimpanzees involves a several hour hike through forest trails, in itself an exciting experience, before you actually reach your primate goal.
Also to be found are hippo, elephant, warthog, giraffe, zebra and buffalo, together with a variety of smaller primates - the red colobus, red-tailed and blue monkeys.
Getting to Mahale:
The practical way to get to Mahale is by taking a two-hour flight from either Arusha or Dar es Salaam.
There is also a weekly steamer from Kigoma, taking seven hours, followed by a further two-hour trip to the Park itself.
Mahale borders Lake Tanganyika on which it is possible to take boat trips (e.g. by dhow), take a dip and even snorkel. Lake Tanganyika is probably the world's least polluted fresh water body.
The best time to visit Mahale, in particular to see the chimpanzees, is in the dry season between Mid-May to mid-November.
