MAHALE CHIMP TREKKING

Even without the chimpanzees, Mahale Mountains National Park would be a dream destination. Forget about bumpy game drives here; set on the shores of Lake Tanganyika (second-deepest lake in the world), there simply are no roads in Mahale. The only way to reach the park is by boat or private plane, and once here, the only way to get around is on your own two feet. With the lush and beautiful mountains rising right out of the shores, this pristine location is as far away from civilization as one can get in Tanzania. The park sees less than a thousand visitors per year (compare that to 300,000 tourists each year in Serengeti alone).

To make up for human absence, baboons and vervets are so numerous that after a day, you almost stop paying attention to them. But of course, the real primates of interest here are the chimpanzees. You do not need to be a primatologist to appreciate an hour, one-on-one, with the chimps. It's an experience that will haunt you for the rest of your life.

The only problem with Mahale is that to enjoy it for five days, you need to lay out about $4000 per person during the peak season. The only other way, to do it yourself, is pretty much impossible unless you make it your full time job to organize. Even for us, locals with years of safari planning experience, it took two separate trips to Western Tanzania to work out the logistics of planning Mahale trips.

But now that we've done the work and have started to bring groups to this far-off gem, we can offer a 7-day Mahale adventure (with five days in the park itself), with all flights, transportation, park fees, guide fees, accommodations, and meals included for just $2000 per person.

Here is a BootsnAll article about Mahale and Katavi from a group that visited the region through us.