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Tracking the chimps of Mahale is a magical experience. The
guide's eyes pick out last night's nests - shadowy clumps
high in a gallery of trees crowding the sky. Scraps of
half-eaten fruit and fresh dung become valuable clues,
leading deeper into the forest. Butterflies flit in the
dappled sunlight.
Then suddenly you are in their midst: preening each other's
glossy coats in concentrated huddles, squabbling noisily, or
bounding into the trees to swing effortlessly between the
vines.
The
area is also known as Nkungwe, after the park's largest
mountain, held sacred by the local Tongwe people, and at
2,460 metres (8,069 ft) the highest of the six prominent
points that make up the Mahale Range.
And
while chimpanzees are the star attraction, the slopes
support a diverse forest fauna, including readily observed
troops of red colobus, red-tailed and blue monkeys, and a
kaleidoscopic array of colourful forest birds.
You
can trace the Tongwe people's ancient pilgrimage to the
mountain spirits, hiking through the montane rainforest belt
– home to an endemic race of Angola colobus monkey - to high
grassy ridges chequered with alpine bamboo. Then bathe in
the impossibly clear waters of the world’s longest,
second-deepest and least-polluted freshwater lake –
harbouring an estimated 1,000 fish species - before
returning as you came, by boat.
About Mahale Mountains National Park
Size: 1,613 sq km (623 sq miles).
Location: Western Tanzania, bordering Lake Tanganyika.
Getting there
Charter flight from Arusha, Dar or Kigoma.
Charter private or national park motorboat from Kigoma,
three to four hours.
Weekly steamer from Kigoma, seven hours, then hire a local
fishing boat or arrange with park HQ for pickup in park
boat, another one or two hours.
What to do
Chimp tracking (allow two days); hiking; camping safaris;
snorkelling; fish for your dinner.
When to go
Dry season (May-October) best for forest walks although no
problem in the light rains of October/November.
Accommodation
Two seasonal luxury tented camps.
Two small resthouses, large campsite.
NOTE
The same rules for chimpanzee viewing at
Gombe Stream apply at
Mahale
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