Mahale Mountains National Park

Mahale Mountains National Park is a protected area in western Tanzania, located along the eastern shoreline of Lake Tanganyika in Uvinza District, within the Kigoma Region. This National Park takes its name from the Mahale Mountains range, which lies entirely within its boundaries and forms a dramatic backdrop of forested slopes rising from the lake. Mahale Mountains National Park is widely regarded as one of Tanzania’s most unique and remote national parks due to its wildlife importance and limited accessibility.

One of the park’s most distinctive features is its role in chimpanzee conservation. It is one of only two protected areas in Tanzania that safeguard wild chimpanzees, the other being nearby Gombe Stream National Park, made famous through the long-term research of Jane Goodall. Mahale Mountains National Park supports the largest known population of eastern chimpanzees in the world. Because of the park’s large size, isolation, and minimal human disturbance, the chimpanzees thrive in a relatively undisturbed natural environment. The park is also unusual in that chimpanzees and lions coexist within the same ecosystem, a rare occurrence in Africa.

Another notable characteristic of Mahale Mountains National Park is that it is almost entirely roadless. There are no internal roads or modern infrastructure within the park boundaries, meaning that visitors must explore the area on foot. Access to the park is only possible by boat across Lake Tanganyika, adding to its sense of wilderness and exclusivity.

Before the establishment of the park, the Mahale Mountains were traditionally inhabited by the Batongwe and Holoholo communities. In 1987, their populations were estimated at approximately 22,000 and 12,500 people respectively. These communities had lived in close harmony with the natural environment, causing little ecological impact. However, following the establishment of the Mahale Mountains Wildlife Research Center in 1979, local residents were forcibly removed from the area. The national park was officially opened in 1985, marking a significant change in land use and human presence in the region.