Africa

Why Visit?

Western Tanzania has been said to have the most spectacular scenery and wildlife on the African continent. It is remote, beautiful and is known as the "road less travelled" - it is truly for people who want to get off of the beaten path and experience a sense of adventure. It gets few visitors, has minimal infrastructure and is a lot more difficult to visit due to the logistics and cost - but so well worth it!

Western Tanzania's Mahale Mountains and Gombe Stream National Park have the best chimp viewing on the planet! Gombe Stream National Park was the home for Jane Goodall where she started her chimp research in 1960, and today is the home of the Jane Goodall Research Institute.

Katavi National Park is one of the most untouched areas in the entire country, is a year round destination and is considered the nations best kept secret! The park is wild with few camps, making one feel like they have been transported way back in time.

Katavi National Park

Katavi is Tanzania's 3rd largest national park at a whopping 1700 square miles and it only receives about 1500 visitors a year so you feel like you have the place to yourself!

In the rainy season, Lake Katavi and Lake Chada are home to Tanzania's densest concentration of crocodiles and hippos. On the flip side, Katavi truly comes to life in the dry season when the Katuma river is reduced to a trickle. The watering holes attract an abundance of wildlife and it is not unusual to see herds of elephants and buffalo's vying for the ever so precious water. There is also an abundance of zebra, giraffe, impalas, reedbucks and the rare roan and sable antelopes. These plains game make easy pickings for the numerous lion prides and the spotted hyena clans.

But the real hit of this park are the hippos. Towards the end of the dry season you may see a few hundred hunkered together in a pool and with this many hippos together, male rivalry ensues! Bloody territorial fights are a daily occurance! If you love the feeling of exclusivity and don't mind going through a little extra work to reach your destination, then Katavi is for you!

Mahale Mountains

Mahale Mountains are famous for its primate population. It is home to 12 species of primates, but is best well known for its chimpanzee population. Along with Gombe Stream National Park, Mahale Mountains provides the best chimp tracking and viewing on the planet!

Mahale Mountains lies on the shore of the great Lake Tanganyika and is only accessible by plane and boats called dhow's. Due to the incredible size and remoteness of the Mahale Mountains, the chimp population sits at around 800 today! Tracking takes place everyday, but keep in mind the chimps are easier to track and see in the dry season (May to October) as they are lower in the mountains. The rainy season drives the chimpanzees higher in the trees for food sources.

Some of the other primate species that inhabit the Mahale Mountains are the yellow baboon, red colobus, blue monkey, red-tailed monkey, vervet monkey and the nocturnal lesser and greater galago which are more likely to be heard and not seen. The eastern slopes of the Mahale Mountains are home to wild dogs, roan antelope, buffalo, giraffe, lions and elephants, but these are rarely seen by visitors. The mountainous setting and dense undergrowth of the Mahale Mountains is a great destination for the adventurous and physically fit traveler.

Gombe Stream National Park

Gombe Stream is Tanzania's smallest national park at 20 square miles. Gombe Stream is famous for its 100+ chimpanzees, The Jane Goodall Research Institute and the Gombe Stream Research Center. Jane Goodall made her home at Gombe Stream in 1960 where she researched and studied the habitats of chimpanzees, making Gombe Stream National Park the first destination for chimpanzee habituation.

As with the Mahale Mountains, access to Gombe is by plane and then a 45-50 minute dhow boat ride to the park. It is not possible to do both Mahale Mountains and Gombe Stream on the same trip due to the logistics of the flights, so most people choose Mahale Mountains unless they are a die hard fan of Jane Goodall's and are interested in the research centers along with the chimp tracking.

Being physically fit will go along way here as the terrain is one of steep valleys and hills