Chimpanzee trekking safari in Tanzania. Mahale and Gombe National Parks.

A Chimpanzee trekking safari is quite unlike any of the more traditional elements of safari. Here you are on your feet throughout and in awe inspiring forest that contains many West African species and bares no resemblance to anything you will have encountered elsewhere in Tanzania.

When you find the chimpanzee group, you're often in surprisingly close proximity to them (sometimes they pass within a few feet of you) and they more or less ignore you. Consequently you are in a remarkable position to observe the extraordinarily complex social interactions and behaviour of the chimpanzee.

Greystoke Camp, Mahale is the original camp in Mahale and the best location for a chimpanzee safari. It has one of the most beautiful and dramatic locations of any lodge in East Africa. …Read more

In both Mahale and Gombe, individual chimps are well known, and their characters and relationships well documented so there is a very high level of intimacy. This element is very rare in game viewing of any kind and is somewhat unexpected and fascinating.

How easy is it to see the chimpanzees?

In both Mahale and Gombe, there is a group of habituated chimps, but in Mahale, where the University of Kyoto has studied the animals ("M" Group) since the sixties, the experience is arguably more rewarding, largely because of the much greater scale of Mahale. Finding the chimps is largely a matter of luck as they can theoretically be anywhere from the top of the 8000 ft Mahale Mountains to the lakeshore at 2500 ft. However, the trackers at the camp know the animals well and are nearly always in touch with their movements from day to day.

On a chimpanzee safari, the length of walk can vary enormously -

they are sometimes literally at the back of the camp and other days they are nowhere to be seen - but on average you should expect to walk for at least 2-3 hours.

In the last few years, chimp sightings in Mahale have been excellent with only a very small number of people not finding the animals and generally the trackers will continue until they find the chimpanzees or until you have had enough.

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