The Mountains  form the western border of Tanzania along the 450 mile long Lake Tanganyika the world's longest and east explored lake. These remote 8,000ft  mountains,are accessible only by boat or air. The lush rainforest covering their slopes is home to 1000 chimpanzees living in the wild, but habituated to human contact by Japanese researchers. Each chimp has been named, its family ties identified, and its individual behavior studied. Visitors can approach to within a few feet as they feed, groom and wrestle across the forest floor. 

The mountains are inhabited by eight other species of primate as well as bushbuck, warthog, bushpig, brush-tailed porcupine, duikers, civit and genet cats. The bird life is fascinating in its variety, with many West African species found here. 

Within an hour or two of walking out on the paths you can be sitting amongst the apes, who will accept your presence completely. Watch them from mere yards away as they groom, wrestle and forage their way across the forest floor. 

The forest itself is a unique habitat, every square foot burgeoning with life, home to nine species of primate alone, and many other East and West African mammals. Rambles beneath the canopy yield magical glimpses of its occupant - flotillas of butterflies, otters in the streambeds, bushbuck bounding along the paths. 

If you tire of the trees, there is the lakeshore for sun-worship, swimming, fishing, and snorkelling. The gin-clear waters of the lake are inhabited by over 200 species of exotic tropical fish found only in Lake Tanganyika. 

As described by Andrew Powell in "Twilight of the Apes,"Departures Magazine (American Express Platinum Card) June/July 2001, Greystoke Camp, formerly known as Mahale Mountains Tented Camp, is the finest place in Africa to view Chimpanzees

This is a relaxed but opulent camp operated by Roland and Zoe Purcell. Located along the sandy beaches of the lake, with the mountains as its backdrop it is accessible only by light aircraft and Tanganyika dhow (over 40 miles from the nearest road).

The camp has 6  large double tents under thatch set back from the beach in the shade of a palm grove, with its backdrop of 8000 ft  mountains rising lush with evergreen semi-tropical forest. The beds have sheets, blankets and a mosquito net and there is a writing table and storage space for clothes. Outside on the verandah there are comfortable chairs and to the rear a canvas tripod washbasin complete with buckets of fresh water. The hot bucket shower and long drop loo are set in a canvas enclosure among  trees separated from the tents. 

The Ottoman style dining tent connects to two smaller octagonal tents on either side. The central tent is the dining room with a large table on a raised platform covered in Persian carpets. On one side is a library with deck chairs and large cushions and the other a bar. Video batteries can be charged in camp.

Chimpanzee tracking and forest walks are interspersed with leisurely meals, dug-out canoeing, and star-gazing from the camp observatory.   Just behind the camp lives a group of about 80 chimpanzees  habituated to human contact by a very sensitive, low-key Japanese research project that has been in the Mahale area for about 30 years, and which has installed the wonderful trail system that we use here. Groups of chimpanzees are usually found within a hour or two trek on easy paths and can be observed from a few yards' distance.

Other activities include walks beneath the forest canopy to observe the other species of wildlife, fishing, boating, snorkelling and swimming in the crystal clearwater of the lake. 

Chada luxury tented camp looks east across the Chada plains. It was established as a  low-impact environmentally sensitive camp. All accommodation is in large double tents for a total of eight people only, Each tent has its own hot bucket shower and long drop loo, while an exotic bathhouse with a view of the swamps is the setting for a unique hot dip in the heart of the wilderness. Meals are served in a mess tent or in the open air. The food is fresh, hearty and delicious, wines are good, the table  generously laid. It’s deliberately simple: from the food to the furniture: good, tasteful, and unpretentious. Breakfast is under the trees, lighting is solar, beds (with linen sheets) are under canvas, hot showers are hung from a bush behind each tent.

Safaris here will include a lot of walking in the company of an armed ranger, as well as game drives across the million acres of National Park. The game is everywhere. Great families of elephant, huge herds of buffalo, pods of hippopotamus, lion, leopard, hyena, fabulous birds, all competing for space, food and water. 

The grassland plain along Lake Chada supports high concentrations of mammals such as lion, leopard, thousand of  buffalo, elephant, zebra, masai giraffe, gazelles, and black legged topi. The mix of East and Southern African vegetation is home to some of the region's rarer mammals such as puku, sable and roan antelope, southern reedbuck, eland and defassa waterbuck. Katavi  hasthe highest concentration of both hippo and crocodile in Tanzania. As the dry season progresses, the game concentrates around the Chada plains, and lion and hyena move in to predate upon the buffalo that create herds of up to 3000 strong. In the rivers, 

More than 400 bird species have been with some notable ‘specials’ like the Angolan pitta, black-faced barbet and blue swallow and waterbirds such as pelican, black-browed albatross, crested lark, green sand piper, and African snipe.

Gombe is the smallest of Tanzania's national parks, but because of the research of Jane Goodall since 1960, one of  the best known .   The park is on Lake Tanganyika, near the Burundi border.  Travel to the Park is by water only from Ujiji or Kigoma. The village of Ujiji is where historians believe British researcher H.M. Stanley uttered the famous words "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" in 1871 upon encountering fellow adventurer David Livingstone, who had been believed dead. Livingstone, though seriously ill, convinced Stanley to join him on a search for the source of the Nile -- a quest that took them through the Gombe Valley. 

Gombe was created to protect its thousands of chimpanzees and is set in the stunning Mahale mountains. The habitat consists of steep narrow valleys, rain forest, grasslands, alpine bamboo and woodland. Wildlife includes chimpanzee, red colobus and blacka and white colobus and red-tail and blue monkeys, yellow baboon, Sykes monkeys,  savannah monkeys, bushbuck, bushpig and grey duiker. Birdlife inlcudes pied and giant kingfishers, the crowned eagle, the African broadbill, Ross's turaco and the trumpeter hornbill. 

 Today, the park is reachable only by tramp steamer. It is best visited during the dry season, which stretches from May to October. If you visit, park
officials warn, be aware that overnight facilities are rugged and camping is restricted in order to protect visitors from the danger posed by aggressive baboons. Travelers willing to put up with such challenges, however, are sure to be rewarded with glimpses of wildlife. 

Dr. Goodall has also written two books, Wild Chimpanzees and In The Shadow of Man.