bjh9999

I am in the process of booking my safaris (June 2012) and I am wondering if 3 days or 4 days is better. I have a total of 21 days and plan on spending time in the south part of Tanzania (Katavi, Ruhua, Seleous and Mahale). I know the flights into Mahale are limited so you either spend 3 nights or 4 nights. Since the camps are up there in costs I do not want to over spend if 3 nights is enough to see the chimps.

What have others found when going there, 3 or 4?

Thanks in advance.

mkulove

How many days/nights you opt for Mahale will be dictated by the means of travel you opt for to get there. Assuming that you will be staying at Kungwe Beach Lodge, the typical package is for 3 nights/4 days, because it is based on the means of travel. The shared charter departs Arusha on Mondays and returns to Arusha on Thursdays. The stay would look like this:
Monday: arrive from Arusha in time for lunch and the afternoon chimp trek.
Tuesday: After breakfast depart for morning chimp trek. Afternoon at leasure.
Wednesday: After breakfast depart on your third morning chimp trek with afternoon at leasure.
Thursday: After breakfast, leave by boat to Mahale airstrip and depart on shared charter flight to Arusha.

You can also get to Mahale from Dar (daily) but it is a bit more complicated: you would fly from Dar to Mwanza, then to Kigoma and then proceed by a private charter to Mahale Park. You would be met at the airstrip and transferred to Kungwe Beach Lodge. This adds to the time of travel and the expense, but does allow you to expend your stay there.

Hope this helps! I have clients who are there now (arrived today), so have learned of the logistics of getting there.

atravelynn

You are likely to see them if you have two chances, which is what a 3-night stay allows. But it is possible that the chimps have moved to elevations so high that most visitors could never reach them. That is why the #1 goal of my Sept Tanz trip was 3 chimp visits. I wanted to have the very best chance of seeing them. I did have excellent luck each time out. But the day before our arrival, no one from any of the camps saw the chimps because they were too high up.

From what I learned the chimps are more likely to be at lower altitudes as the season goes on. So June may mean they are higher up. But nothing is certain with chimps and they can easily move up and down the mountain by tree from day to day.

Here is a link to my report. The Mahale part is in <green>green.</green> Although I put in a photo link right after the Mahale title, I think the one that works is at the end of the report.

http://www.fodors.com/community/afri...-tarangire.cfm

I stayed at Flycatchers camp and was very pleased. It is one of the less expensive options.

You've got a great 21 day itinerary!

gatoratlarge

I spent a couple nights at Mahale a number of years ago...there was only one option that I was aware of, Roland Purcell's Greystoke Camp....three nights will be fine for Mahale but I predict it will be a big highlight of your trip...I found it to be one of the most stunning places I've stayed in Africa....we flew on a small plane out of Arusha and landed on an airstrip between the lake and the mountains, then took an Arab-style dhow for a sail an hour south to the camp....the ride back, Roland himself flew us up the shoreline of Lake Tanganyika to Kigoma where we got to visit Ujiji: "Dr Livingston, I presume?" and took commercial flights back to Dar Salaam...any how, I think you'll love it : )

atravelynn

<b>"I found it to be one of the most stunning places I've stayed in Africa...."</b>

Ditto!

sandi

Years ago, it was only Greystoke. A few more options to stay nowadays.

gatoratlarge

In case you're interested---the first half of these pictures are from our visit to Mahale---it has been a number of years as has been noted---in fact, the design of Roland's Greystoke Camp has been totally re-worked/imagined, but the scenery is still as stunning as ever I'm sure...apologies for the photography---I was using a manual focus at the time not a digital camera and so it was a little hit or miss....still, I like some of the shots...

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...1&l=7e749ee814