WHERE TO STAY IN MAHALE PARK

AfricanMecca recognizes three different Safari Tiers of Tanzanian nature holiday accommodations in Mahale for combined standards of excellence on such varied parameters as location, including beauty of surroundings, aesthetics and amenities of the accommodation, gastronomy, wildlife population, available activities, and ease of access, versus isolation, privacy, exclusiveness, quality of guiding, relationship with local populations and eco-responsibility.

One offsets adventure against comfort to some extent. Standards of cuisine, service, amenities and decor: the luxury factors for a sybaritic safari may be easier to provide in a more accessible venue than in the heart of nowhere. Accordingly, it is necessary to balance uniqueness and excellence in one area against another, to provide a client with the information necessary to choose their personal priorities and preferences.



Premium luxury accommodation, Safari Tier 1, offers the attributes of a world-class auberge at Mahale or elsewhere. Rustic opulent, large suites or boutique chalets, superb service, distinctive ambience, outstanding coziness and cuisine, marry with the ultimate safari experience. Transport, guiding standards and range of activities are unique and of superlative quality.

Safari Tier 2 in Mahale offers deluxe levels of hospitality, possibly with smaller rooms, a notch down with personalization compared to a Tier 1, slightly less exclusivity, but still a very high quality standard of superb comfort and service. Safari Tier 3 is for the backpacker adventurer on a chimpanzee tour in this part of Tanzania, who is most interested in the primate safari experience and prepared to forego most comfort amenities in the interests of a careful budget.



Within these three tiers, there is also a choice of a camp or a tented lodge in Mahale. Tented camps comprise of canvas walled rooms on a solid platform deck with thatched shading protecting the suite and verandah. Bathrooms are en-suite or on the outdoor decking. Lodges are usually solidly built suites of stone, wood and other permanent locally sourced materials, although, they vary greatly from chalets to bandas and hybrid constructions around a canvas walled interior in Mahale and other parks in Tanzania.

The first option is Greystoke Mahale which bases its reputation as a Tier 1 luxury safari lodge on its unbeatable standards of staff and guide training, its ecological soundness, the miracles it has wrought with local materials and in providing an unforgettable East African primate safari experience in an isolated and breathlessly beautiful setting.



Six spacious, airy bandas sit far apart, camouflaged in palm groves on the edge of a fairytale mini-lagoon with idyllic silver sand beaches. In this area, which is appallingly difficult to access, Greystoke Mahale solves the problem for you, by accessible bi-weekly air transport and arranging lake boat connections to their amazing main lodge, built in the style of the indigenous Kitongwe people.

The second option is Mbali Mbali Mahale Lodge (formerly known as Nkungwe Luxury Tented Camp) is a Tier 2 accommodation in its glorious setting offering guests a hybrid canvas-lodge straightforwardness with excellent services, flavorsome cuisine and expert guiding. Accessibility is constrained only by logistical limitations. The backpackers have the budget hostel-like option of staying at the government TANAPA Tier 3 rudimentary quarters at Mahale Mango Tree Bandas.