Mahale Mountains

The Mahale Mountains National Park is on the shores of Lake Tanganyika on the eastern border of Tanzania.

The park is famous for being the home of some of Africa's last remaining wild chimpanzees. It is estimated that over 1500 chimpanzees live in the area and so even if you don't see one on your foray into the forest, it would be unusual not to see on if you spend two or three days here.

The best time to see the chimps is during the dry season (between June and October) when they are more likely to be foraging on the ground. In the wet season (November -May), the chimpanzees spend much of their time high in the trees which can make them more difficult to spot.

In addition to seeing the Chimpanzees, there are opportunities to take an expedition on Lake Tanganyika where you can see hippos and crocodiles.

The forest also has a wide variety of colourful forest birds.