Mahala National Park is an unknown and relatively undiscovered Tanzania highlight… and for a good reason…. Mahala is home to Africa’s last remaining wild chimpanzees and is one of Tanzania’s highly protected wildlife areas. TheNkungwe Mountain (the largest mountain in the park which was first climbed in 1939) forms part of the Mahala National Park which boasts a peak of 2460 m height. The Nkungwe Mountain is sacred to the Tongwe people that live in the Mahala region.

Even though safaris to Mahala are a wonderfull and  ‘one of a kind’ experience we prefer recommending that travellers explore other Tanzania national parks. As mentioned above, the last remaining group of wild chimpanzees life in this area, and we prefer promoting their protection rather than intrusion of travellers… our little way to help the protection of the Mahala National Park.

Mahala National Park is situated directly on Lake Tanganyika, with the misty and rugged Mahale mountain range running down its centre. Lake Tanganyika is one of the African Great Lakes and is the second largest freshwater lake and the second deepest lake in the world. A Tanzania safari to the Mahala and Tanganyika area is truly a magical experience but, again, this area should be respected and conserved. However, you can visit Lake Tanganyika via Zambia instead.

Like the Gombe Stream to the north, Mahala is primarily a chimpanzee sanctuary, with a population of approximately 800 chimpanzees inside its boundaries.

The Mahala area has been the site of an ongoing Japanese-sponsored primate research project since 1965 – they are currently studying and protecting these fascinating chimpanzees. The Mahala National Park was gazetted as a national park in 1980 with an area of close to 1600 km2.

If you have any questions about the protection of the chimpanzees, would like to help conserve the Mahala National Park or would even like to visit the other exciting areas of Tanzania on a safari please send us an email (eastafrica(at)remove-this.jenmansafaris.com) – we would love to hear from you.