Greystoke Mahale sits on a sandy beach overlooking Lake Tanganyika's crystal-clear waters. The beautiful, dense, forested slopes of the Mahale Mountains rise steeply behind the camp. The canopy is filled with the sounds of birds, and at times, you can hear the "pant-hoots" of chimpanzees calling out. Butterflies sail through the forest's avenues and glades. Warthogs and bush pigs rootle for palm nuts.
The main focus here is the chimp trekking in the forest. Mahale is home to over 800 chimps, but only one group of about 60 individuals is currently habituated. On a "normal" day, you will head out to look for the chimps after an early breakfast, accompanied by park rangers. Trackers will have gone out ahead of you at dawn to go to where the chimps bedded down the night before, and they then track the chimps from where they nested. This tracking team then radio back with news about the chimps' location to the rangers you are hiking with, and you trek up to see the chimps. But each day is different, and the chimp group has a huge territory, so on a good day, the trek can be very short ( chimps regularly come right through camp ), or on tougher days, the trek can be very steep and long. On very rare occasions, one does not see the chimps at all.
While you are not trekking, Greystoke is a wonderfully laid-back place to relax. There is no pool there yet. The lake looks like the perfect place to take a plunge, but large crocodiles in the water make it life-threatening near shore. You can take a dhow into the deeper waters and swim off the boat.
The boats are a great way to explore. You get glimpses of fish and can see over 40 feet through the water to the sandy bottom. Sometimes, you see hippos run beneath the hull.
The six ensuite rooms are very simple but comfortable. They are open-fronted and tucked into the treeline with small verandahs and an upstairs chill-out area with views towards the beach.
About This Area
Located on the eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika in the Kigoma Region, Mahale Mountains is one of the country’s most beautiful and least visited parks, one of only two protected areas for chimpanzees. The park is unique in that it can only be accessed on foot or by boat, as there are no roads or other infrastructure within its boundaries.
The region is currently home to around 800 chimpanzees, though only one troop consisting of roughly 60 animals is habituated to people. This is known as the “M” group, first habituated in 1965 by Toshisada Nishida, a Japanese researcher. Their territory covers beaches, lowland forests, hills and valleys, much of it impenetrable. To reach them, you trek through the stunning forest in humid conditions; trackers set out before you to try to find where they slept the night before; they move fast, and you have to keep up in the hope that they will slow down or settle somewhere.
Lake Tanganyika is also famous for its diversity of cichlid fish species (more than 90% of which are endemic), and it is also the deepest lake on the continent.
Greystoke Mahale
