Mahale Mountains

Spreading from the undisturbed, sandy beaches of Lake Tanganyika to the 2000 metre high, forested peaks that guard this beautiful national park, Mahale offers epic scenery, rare and wonderful wildlife and all the mystery associated with tales of African jungles and treks - this hidden corner of Tanzania is truly an undiscovered gem and has to be seen to justify the myriad of cliches and metaphors needed to describe it. One of our favourite destinations, Mahale is best known for chimpanzee tracking, although it also protects a number of primate species not present elsewhere in Tanzania and a whole host of other attractions.

The Mahale Mountains are one of the latest African areas to be explored by outsiders and it was only in 1958 when serious scientific exploration began...previously there were only occasional visits and mentions by various  Western explorers. Formed in 1985, Mahale Mountains National Park is huge, at just over 1600 square kilometres, and is predominantly rugged mountains that are part of the Mahale Range (and further, part of the Rift Valley Escarpment). An interesting fact is that the beaches (good swimming!) are almost exactly halfway between the two altitudes that mark the extremities of this park...2000 metres up, and nearly 2000 down at the bottom of Lake Tanganyika! This incredible statistic allows for 15 different plant habitats, ranging from open woodland to rainforest to bamboo forests to grassland to montane forest...secreting a veritable wealth of birds, animals and insects. Amongst all this are approximately 1000 wild chimpanzees, and eight other primates (yellow baboon, red colobus, blue, red-tailed and vervet monkeys, lesser and thick-tailed greater galago and the endemic Angolan black-and-white colobus), resulting in a scientific research centre being established in 1965 at Kasoge for primate study (specifically chimp). A main group ("M group") are the main subject of the research, and also that of tourist trips. The best time to visit is towards the end of the dry season (typically July to October), when the chimpanzees come out of the mountains and occupy the more accessible lower slopes. Beyond this time frame, the jungle thickens and walking is harder - making it harder to find the groups. That said, it's virtually guaranteed that given a few days you will encounter the primates at least once during your stay, regardless of the time of year.

The eastern slopes of Mahale are home to elephant, lion, African hunting dog, buffalo and giraffe, although given their wild nature and thick habitat, sightings are rare. With no roads or any form of internal structure, Mahale can only be accessed by boat and is unusual in the sense that it can only be explored on foot - deepest, darkest Africa!

Lake Tanganyika, a stunning geographical feature and essentially a flooded rift valley, holds an unbelievable 1/6th of the world's fresh water.  The water itself is crystal clear and almost always described as "clear as gin" by most who've had the pleasure of experiencing this body of pristine water. In addition to over 100 species of cichlids (fresh water fish), are found sponges, crabs and jellfish. The jellyfish are unrelated to the marine species and of great interest to scientists. One species of fish is so old, his nearest relative died out before the dinosaurs! Spotted otter dart amongst the underwater rocks and crannies while water cobra, deadly poisonous and thankfully not often seen, live amongst the reeds on the water's edge.