Mahale Mountains National Park
Where forested hills plunge into crystal waters, this is indescribably beautiful!
On the shores of Lake Tanganyika, the verdant forests and angular slopes of the Mahale Mountains drop vertically to sand covered beaches and crystal clear waters. The lodges that nestle on the shores of Lake Tanganyika with this stunning backdrop are reason enough to come to this wondrous place...but add in some of the best chimp viewing on the planet and this becomes a one in a million!
As you may tell, the Mahale Mountains National Park and Lake Tanganyika are very highly rated in our book. Everything about coming here is remarkable and memorable in the best senses of the word. With a world so full of people and places so easy to access, Mahale is one of those that defies the trend and, once you have visited both, they stay with you forever and allows you the boast of being only one of a handful that have stepped foot. High praise indeed, but warranted in our opinion.
As you fly in past the mist-covered slopes of the Mahale Mountains, looking down onto the dense forest that covers the area, you glimpse Lake Tanganyika, the world's second largest and second deepest lake. Landing on a small runway in the middle of a local village you are greeted to singing and laughter, as each arrival is an occasion.
Currently there are only two camps of any note that offer accommodation along the shoreline, and both share access to the troop of habituated chimps that live not far inland. The chimp trekking itself can be easy of hard, depending on the movement of the troop and the flowering and fruiting of the many trees in the forest. On the whole, however, a stay of 3 or 4 nights will allow for at least one viewing which is a remarkable experience in itself as, today, there are only two or three places left in the world where chimp trekking with habituated chimps is possible.
