gallery of 9 photos

Mahale Mountains, Lake Tanganyika, Tanzania

Greystoke Mahale

Staying at Greystoke and spending time with the wild chimps that live in the Mahale Mountains is an amazing experience! Lake Tanganyika is surprisingly clean and swimmable. We love this one camp on many levels!

The trek to get here is long (5 hours from Arusha) by a combination of plane and boat - but worth it. When combined with a stay at Katavi, this can be an incredible itinerary. The camp may be a bit rustic for some - rooms are open to the outside. There are rumors of chiggers in the sand on the beach.  — Mango's view

There are few natural environments more seductive than Mahale, and there is no place on earth better to watch wild chimpanzees.

It is achingly beautiful and unspoiled. Tropical mountains rise from pale sand beaches of Lake Tanganyika to 7500 feet. Rivers tumble down waterfalls to the shoreline, through fairytale forest valleys, providing stunning hiking terrain. Among many other mammals, a thousand wild chimpanzees range in this rich habitat. Over 90 unique species of fish swim meanwhile in the gin clear waters of the lake. So do we, under the African sun, it's irresistible.

There are no roads for 50 miles. Man can only enter on foot or by boat. You'll find Greystoke Camp on the beach, right at the heart of it all.

An extraordinary group of 50 chimpanzees have been completely habituated to human contact. This means they are definitely wild, but can be approached to within a few meters, and are studied daily by researchers. Tracking the chimps along winding park paths can take anything from half an hour (sometimes they oblige by coming into camp) to five. It helps to be fit, but the walking is not overly strenuous. It's all worth it in the end. Sitting, literally surrounded, by these long-lost cousins as they fight, breed, hunt and play is quite simply, mind blowing.

Greystoke Mahale is the ultimate retreat, sculptured from canvas, wood and thatch: no concrete, no plastic, no shops, no sign posts.

Service is attentive, but not overbearing, and the living is very easy. Dinners are laid on the beach under the stars, on the mahogany dhow by flaming torch, or in the Mess - a timbered Tongwe chief's hut - the ultimate chimp exhibit.

The 6 double tents have little but the best: linen sheets, down pillows, hand-made wooden beds. Each has a forest bathroom, with running water, flush toilets and showers under the palms, though most choose to abandon their normal selves and bathe in the clear moonlit waters of Tanganyika.

Includes: All meals, drinks, & laundry