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A red sun setting behind the silhouettes of palms and acacias in Katavi National Park

Sample journey · 10–12 days

Katavi's floodplains and the chimpanzees of Mahale

Arusha, Katavi National Park, the Mahale Mountains & Lake Tanganyika

Photo: Steve Ody / Unsplash

Illustrative journey ideas — not bookable packages. No prices, dates or accommodation are implied.

Western Tanzania is a different world from the Serengeti. There are no roads bringing safari vehicles out from town, and you move between camps in small aircraft that fly to this region only on certain days of the week. Katavi is one of the country's most remote parks: wide floodplains, borassus palms and rivers that shrink by the end of the dry season into muddy pools crowded with hippos. There are usually almost no other vehicles.

The second half of the journey belongs to the Mahale Mountains, whose forested slopes run straight down into the clear water of Lake Tanganyika. Chimpanzees live here that researchers have followed for decades, and the search for them along forest trails shapes every day. The journey is for experienced travellers and couples who have been to Africa before and are looking for quiet, distance and simple but carefully considered comfort. The kind of stays and the pace would be chosen around you.

The route

The journey

  1. Arusha
  2. Katavi National Park
  3. Mahale Mountains National Park
  4. Lake Tanganyika
  5. Arusha
  1. Mount Meru in evening light above the farms and villages around Arusha

    01Days 1–2 · Arusha

    A night before the long flight

    After a flight via a European hub, a night at a quiet farmstead among the coffee plantations around Arusha, where Mount Meru often rises above the fields. The evening is for resting and packing light: small aircraft usually allow only a soft bag with a strict weight limit. On the second morning, the flight west. The light-aircraft journey, with one or more stops on the way, can take much of the day, and beneath the wing the highlands and savannahs slowly give way to wooded plains.

  2. A lioness resting with five cubs on a dry riverbed in Katavi

    02Days 2–4 · Katavi: the floodplains

    A park with no queue

    Four nights in Katavi, at a small tented camp by a river or on the edge of a floodplain. Morning drives cross the wide Katisunga and Chada plains, where large buffalo herds graze in the dry season with lions following them. Giraffe, zebra, antelope and sometimes wild dogs: there is plenty of wildlife and so few vehicles that meeting another is often an event. At midday camp is hot and quiet: a siesta, a book and the sighs of hippos from the river.

  3. A lion cub pressing close to its mother in green grass in Katavi National Park

    03Days 4–6 · Katavi: rivers & on foot

    When the rivers become pools

    By the end of the dry season the Katuma River shrinks, and hippos crowd into the remaining muddy pools, sometimes several hundred in one place. Crocodiles hide in the banks, and the whole savannah comes to the water to drink. One morning is worth spending on foot with an armed ranger: along the forest edge, reading tracks and bird calls. Some camps also offer a night in a simple fly camp under the open sky; how that fits your pace is something we'd discuss in advance.

  4. 04Days 6–9 · The Mahale Mountains

    A forest where you hear them first

    A short flight to the Mahale airstrip, then about an hour and a half to two hours by boat along the lakeshore, as there are no roads into the park. Four nights at a small camp on a sandy shore with forested mountains rising behind. Each morning you set off into the forest with a park guide and trackers to look for the chimpanzees: sometimes you find them in half an hour, sometimes it means climbing steep, damp slopes for several hours. Once a group is found, you spend about an hour nearby, keeping your distance and, where required, wearing a mask. An encounter is frequent but never guaranteed, which is why several days here are not a luxury but a chance.

  5. A fire on the sand on the shore of Lake Tanganyika in Mahale Mountains National Park at sunset

    05Days 9–11 · Lake Tanganyika & the way home

    Evenings on the shore of an ancient lake

    Afternoons at Mahale belong to the lake, one of the deepest and oldest in the world, so clear that from the boat you can see colourful cichlids moving among the rocks. You can kayak, fish or simply head out in a wooden boat towards the sunset, as the outline of mountains on the Congolese side sharpens across the water. In the evening, a fire on the sand and dinner under the stars. On the last day a boat takes you back to the airstrip for the flight to Arusha; depending on flight times, you can leave for home the same evening or after one more night.

Experience highlights

  1. 01

    Safari without other vehicles

    Katavi's plains, where it often feels as if the whole park belongs to you and your guide.

  2. 02

    The hippo pools

    At the end of the dry season, hundreds of hippos in shrinking rivers: a noisy and remarkable sight.

  3. 03

    Chimpanzee calls

    Calls that suddenly fill the forest, and an hour near a family living its own life.

  4. 04

    The water of Tanganyika

    A clear lake, sunset over the Congolese mountains and a fire on the sand beneath forested slopes.

First, we listen. Then, we explore what's possible.

Make it your own

  • With Ruaha

    Some flights to the west stop at Ruaha, so the journey could begin with a few nights in this large southern park of baobabs and lions. It lengthens the trip but shortens the single longest day of flying.

  • More time for the chimpanzees

    Five or six nights at Mahale instead of four: more chances of an encounter and more slow afternoons by the lake. The number of nights depends on the flight days, so the two are planned together.

  • An ending on Zanzibar

    After the remote days, a few nights on Zanzibar's coast or in Stone Town. Flights from the west usually return to Arusha, from where it's easy to fly on to the island.

  • First time in Tanzania?

    If you haven't yet seen the northern parks, the classic Serengeti and Ngorongoro route is the better first step; the west reveals itself most to those who already know what a usual safari looks like.

Practical considerations

  • Camps in the west usually operate only in the dry season, roughly June to October, and light aircraft fly to Katavi and Mahale only on certain days of the week. We always check dates, flights and camp seasons in advance.
  • Small aircraft allow only a soft bag with a strict weight limit, and flights between the parks are long, with stops on the way.
  • Chimpanzee treks at Mahale can mean several hours of climbing steep, slippery slopes in heat and humidity. Park rules apply on distance, time with the animals, masks and minimum age; we check them when planning.
  • This is one of the more costly ways to see Tanzania because of the distances and flights. Talk to your doctor or a travel clinic in good time about your health before travelling somewhere this remote.

General guidance only. Seasons, weather and wildlife are never guaranteed, and travel requirements are always worth checking before you go.

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