Lake Tanganyika

The water is so clear you can see fish thirty metres down. Behind you the forest climbs the peaks of Mahale. In front of you the lake runs to the western horizon, more than 650 kilometres long and nearly a mile deep. You could believe you are on a Pacific island. Then a chimpanzee pant-hoot rolls out of the canopy, and you remember where you are.

This is not the Pacific. In the old forest along the shore, chimpanzees call through the canopy. Mahale Mountains National Park holds one of the largest wild chimpanzee populations left in Africa, habituated over fifty years by Japanese researchers. You track them on foot. You hear their pant-hoots build into a roar as they move through the trees.

There are no roads. You arrive by light aircraft, and you reach the lodges by wooden dhow. Almost nobody comes. Spend the mornings with the chimpanzees, the afternoons swimming in the clear lake, and the evenings eating fresh sashimi on the beach. It is a place of deep, absolute peace.

At a Glance

Lake Tanganyika