Mahale Mountains National Park, Tanzania, on the shore of Lake Tanganyika, half-way between the Burundi and Zambian borders, is home to a thriving population of some of the last wild chimpanzees in Africa.

Mahale Mountains is one of the few National Parks in Africa that can only be experienced on foot. The only way in or out of the park is by boat and in the entire 1,613 sq km park, there is not a single road. This is a wholly unique wilderness, a long way off the beaten track; but the lake, the beaches, the extraordinary forest and of course, the chimpanzees make it a journey well worth making. Fifty times the size, and infinitely more diverse than better-known Gombe Stream National Park (made famous by researcher Jane Goodall), Mahale is one of only two protected areas for chimpanzees in Tanzania.