Western Circuit
Destination
MAHALE MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK
he exceptional Mahale Mountains National Park, located in the far west of the country on the shores of Lake Tanganyika and home to the best chimpanzee trekking in Africa, is one of the most unique safari destinations on the entire continent. The lakeshore consists of a beach of fine powder-like white sand, behind which rises a range of imposing mountains with abundant tropical vegetation. The forest is alive with sound as big blue butterflies flit above the streams.
Originally created to protect the thousands of chimpanzees that inhabit the region, Mahale Mountains National Park is renowned for its fantastic sunsets over Lake Tanganyika, one of the oldest and deepest lakes in the world, which makes it an essential stop for anyone planning a Tanzania photo safari. The park is teeming with life, rivers and waterfalls are everywhere, and around the shoreline of the lake are the most unspoiled white sandy beaches you can imagine.
The park’s breathtaking variety of habitats include grasslands, rainforest, alpine bamboo and woodlands where approximately 50 species of animals have been noted, predominant among these species being assorted monkey and ape families. Over 90 unique species of fish also swim in the clear waters of the lake.
KATAVI NATIONAL PARK
Located in the far west of Tanzania, Katavi National park is the third largest park in Tanzania and is a park for safari enthusiasts. Often combined with nearby Mahale Mountains National Park, Katavi receives very few travelers due to its relative inaccessibility and the high cost of flights.
Travelers who spend the time and money to get here, however, are richly rewarded as it is nothing short of magical. Katavi National Park is truly wild with very few visitors and few camps. It’s one of the few places left in Africa today where you genuinely feel that you could have slipped back a thousand years. Many safari connoisseurs would argue that this is the quintessential Tanzania safari park. Combine this park with Mahale, specifically at Greystoke, and there is a good argument that Katavi is the finest week to be had in Africa!
The park is primarily fed by the Katuma River which in the rainy season – April and May – transforms the park into a wetland. Lake Chada and Lake Katavi are both seasonal lakes which are situated within the park boundaries. In terms of vegetation, the park hosts a varied mix of bush land, Miombo forests, riverine forests as well as grasslands.
GOMBE NATIONAL PARK
The smallest of Tanzania’s national parks, Gombe Stream National Park is a narrow strip of chimpanzee habitat on the shore of Lake Tanganyika, located on the far western border of Tanzania and the Congo. The park is world-famous for Jane Goodall, the resident primatologist who spent many years in its forests studying the behaviour of the endangered chimpanzees, contributing to the drive to combine the preservation of primate wildlife habitats with the development of eco-tourism and the beneficial involvement of indigenous human communities in Tanzania.
Gombe National Park was established in 1968. It is located on the eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika, 15 km north of the town of Kigoma, and is accessible only by boat. The landscape of the park is made up of steep valleys, streams and rivers. The vegetation changes from tropical rainforests and alpine bamboo to grasslands – similar to that of neighboring Mahale Mountains National Park.
The park is rich in both human and natural history. The village of Ujiji is where historians think British researcher H.M. Stanley said the famous words “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” in 1871 when he encountered fellow adventurer David Livingstone, who had been thought to have died. Though he was seriously ill, Livingstone convinced Stanley to join him on a search to find the source of the Nile — a quest which took them through the Gombe Valley.
The park’s narrow, steep valleys are carpeted by evergreen rainforests that give way to grass-topped ridges and alpine bamboo stands, are home to two kinds of acrobatic colobus monkeys, along with giant kingfishers, crowned eagles, bushpigs, trumpeter hornbills, and more than 50 other wild species. Snorkelers may enjoy the adjoining lake, which holds almost 100 kinds of brightly-colored cichlid fish.
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