Mahale Mountains

Mahale is set among the spectacular, forested slopes of the Mahale Mountains, the Mahale Mountains National Park was originally created to protect the thousands of chimpanzees that inhabit the region. It is renowned for its fantastic sunsets over Lake Tanganyika, which makes it an essential stop for keen photographers and safari enthusiasts. The park’s breathtaking array of habitats include rainforest, grasslands, alpine bamboo and woodlands; where some 50 species of animals have been recorded, predominant among these being representatives from various monkey and ape families, and over 90 unique species of fish swim in the clear waters of the lake.

The Mahale Mountains are a remote mountain chain situated in the Mahale National Park, which is famous for its huge protected population of chimpanzees. Hiking here gives you a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to co-exist with the chimpanzees in their natural habitat.

Mahale contains at least world’s largest protected population (approx. 700-1000) of the eastern subspecies of Chimpanzee. The area contains at least 335 birds’ species, many of which are rare and endemic to the Albertine Rift. Eg Pel’s fishing owl.

One of the unusual things about Mahale is the wide variety of habitat types that it contains. The park is a mosaic of overlapping rainforest, woodland, bamboo forest, Montane forest and mountain grasslands, meaning that Mahale can support a unique mix of flora and fauna that rely on the various different habitats