Welcome to Mahale
1.
Mahale Mountains National Park
Mahale Mountain National Park containing
some of the last remaining wild chimpanzees in Africa, the Mahale Mountains
National Park was gazetted in 1985, covers an area of 1 613 km² and is located
about 128 km south of Kigoma town on the eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika. The
western boundary of the park protects an adjacent 1.6 km wide strip of Lake
Tanganyika’s waters.
The land in and around Mahale is the
traditional homeland of the Watongwe and Waholoholo tribes. Japanese primate
researchers began exploring along the shore of Lake Tanganyika, south of Kigoma
as early as 1961. In 1965, the researchers established their first camp,
‘Kansyana’, in Mahale and began habituating chimpanzees.
The terrain is mostly rugged and hilly, and
is dominated by the Mahale Mountains chain that runs from the northwest to the
southeast across the park. The highest peak (Mount Nkungwe) rises to 2 462 m
above sea level.
2.
Tourist Attraction
Mahale offers a number of outstanding
attractions for visitors, from tracking wild habituated chimpanzees, to
mountain climbing, snorkelling, fishing, kayaking and relaxing on deserted,
pristine, white, sandy beaches.
Walking safaris in the beautiful, lowland
forest allow close encounters with a vast array of birds and animals, including
a group of habituated chimpanzees. The opportunity to track chimps in their
natural habitat is Mahale's foremost tourist attraction.
An ascent of the highest peak in the Mahale
Mountains ridge, Mt. Nkungwe, is one of the most spectacular activities
available to tourists. It takes 2-3 days to reach the summit, and the best time
for climbing is during the dry season (May – October). Whilst camping on the
mountain at night, it is often possible to see the spectacle of 'fishing fire',
as the kerosene lamps carried by small fishing boats light up across the Lake.
Lake Tanganyika contains more than 250
species of fish found nowhere else on Earth, many of which can be viewed by
snorkelling in the shallows along Mahale’s shoreline.
Long walking trips can be arranged for
viewing big game such as lion, elephant, hippo, buffalo, giraffe and leopard.
These safaris may require up to 7 days.
Sport fishing on the fresh waters of Lake
Tanganyika is possible under special licences available to visitors.
Cultural tourism activities entailing
visits to the nearby villages can also be arranged. Kigoma town and the
historical town Ujiji are worth a detour. Kigoma is the capital of the Kigoma
District and the economic centre of the region. Ujiji is a historical town
dating back to the days of German colonial rule in Tanganyika. In the 19th
century, Dr. Livingstone travelled to Ujiji in a bid to stop the slave trade.
Other tourist destinations in western
Tanzania that can complement a visit to Mahale Mountains National Park include
Gombe Stream and Katavi National Parks, lying north and south of Mahale
respectively.
3.
Nature of Mahale MT. National Park
The mammalian fauna of Mahale can be
loosely classified into three types on the basis of their habitat preferences.
The existence of all three types in a single area is unusual and is one of
Mahale’s defining characteristics, resulting from the complex mosaic of
eco-zones found in the park.
1.
Tropical rain forest
animals, which include chimpanzees (Pan
troglodytes schweinfurthii), giant forest squirrel (Protoxerus stangeri),
red-legged sun squirrel (Heliosciurus rufobrachium), brush-tailed porcupine
(Atherurus sp.), Angolan black-and-white colobus monkeys (Colobus angolensis), bushy-tailed
mongoose (Bdeogale crassicauda), banded mongoose (Mungos mungo), blue duiker
(Cephalophus monticola) and Sharpe’s grysbok (Raphicerus sharpei);
4.
Tourist Attractions
Mahale
offers a number of outstanding attractions for visitors, from tracking wild
habituated chimpanzees, to mountain climbing, snorkeling, fishing, kayaking and
relaxing on deserted, pristine, white, sandy beaches.
Walking
safaris in the beautiful, lowland forest allow close encounters with a vast
array of birds and animals, including a group of habituated chimpanzees. The
opportunity to track chimps in their natural habitat is Mahale's foremost
tourist attraction.
An ascent
of the highest peak in the Mahale Mountains ridge, Mt. Nkungwe, is one of the
most spectacular activities available to tourists. It takes 2-3 days to reach
the summit, and the best time for climbing is during the dry season (May –
October). Whilst camping on the mountain at night, it is often possible to see
the spectacle of 'fishing fire', as the kerosene lamps carried by small fishing
boats light up across the Lake.
Lake
Tanganyika contains more than 250 species of fish found nowhere else on Earth,
many of which can be viewed by snorkeling in the shallows along Mahale’s
shoreline.
Long
walking trips can be arranged for viewing big game such as lion, elephant,
hippo, buffalo, giraffe and leopard. These safaris may require up to 7 days.
Sport
fishing on the fresh waters of Lake Tanganyika is possible under special licenses
available to visitors.
Cultural
tourism activities entailing visits to the nearby villages can also be
arranged. Kigoma town and the historical town Ujiji are worth a detour. Kigoma
is the capital of the Kigoma District and the economic center of the region.
Ujiji is a historical town dating back to the days of German colonial rule in
Tanganyika. In the 19th century, Dr. Livingstone traveled to Ujiji in a bid to
stop the slave trade.
Other
tourist destinations in western Tanzania that can complement a visit to Mahale
Mountains National Park include Gombe Stream and Katavi National Parks, lying
north and south of Mahale respectively.
2. Savannah animals, such as lions, Grant’s zebras, warthogs, and giraffes;
3.
Species found in 'miombo'
woodland, such as roan antelopes, sable
antelopes, and Lichtenstein hartebeest.
A total of 82 species of mammals have now
been recorded in Mahale Mountains National Park, which is about 70–80% of the
projected total. Of the large mammals, only a handful remain to be found. The
latter include greater kudu, southern or mountain reedbuck, and Harvey’s
duiker.
Some smaller mammals that have not yet been
recorded but that almost certainly occur in Mahale include the marsh mongoose,
Atilax paludinosus and Smith’s red rock hare, Pronolagus rupestris. By far the
greatest number of unrecorded mammals will be bats, rodents and insectivores.
Accumulation of new mammal records for the park will probably level out at
around 115–120 species.
At least one species of large mammal, the
Black rhinoceros, has been extirpated from the park. Although there are no
records of this species in Mahale, the local Tongwe people have a name for it,
Pela, and it almost certainly occurred in the past.
Birds
The bird species list for Mahale now stands
at 355, which represents about 80% of the species that are likely to be found
in Mahale. In his field survey, Moyer (2006) noted that the Kabezi area in the
north had the highest abundance of birds, but this probably reflects the better
visibility in such open woodland habitat, rather than an actual higher
abundance of birds.
At Kabezi, many records were made of aerial
foraging species, birds of prey and migratory species, whereas in the forested
study areas (Kasoge and Mfitwa), sight records were a relatively small part of
the total and vocal records made up the bulk of contacts. Aerial species may
easily be missed when surveying in thick forest, and it can be difficult to
detect birds unless they are very close or vocalizing.
Mahale Mountains National Park plays an
extremely important role in the conservation of several bird subspecies that
are endemic to the immediate area. All endemic taxa at Mahale are classified as
‘Vulnerable’ in the ICBP/IUCN Red Data Book
Reptiles & Amphibians
Very scant information exists about the
reptiles and amphibians of Mahale. The Mahale area, and western Tanzania in
general, has been very poorly surveyed in the past and much remains to be
learnt about the herpetofauna of this area. 26 species of reptiles have been
recorded in Mahale, but building up a reasonably complete list is a task that
will take many years of focused fieldwork.
In the first systematic study carried out
in the park, Moyer (2006) collected twenty species of amphibians. This
represents a minimum number for Mahale and the total is likely to be double or
triple this figure. Subsequent fieldwork has identified two species (one frog
and one gecko) that are likely to be new to science.
Fish
Lake Tanganyika is one of the oldest lakes
in the world and has several million years of history. About 250 species of
fish live in the lake, and most of these are endemic, occurring nowhere else on
Earth. The lake is well known for the evolution and adaptive radiation of the Cichlid
family (Perciforms), to which around two thirds of the lake’s fish belong.
Offshore, in abyssal and littoral areas, a
variety of complex and stable fish communities have developed. These are
largely comprised of Cichlid species, each of which occupies its own ecological
niche, and interacts with others in specific and mutually beneficial ways.
Members of this species belong to one of
two morphological types, ‘right- ‘or ‘left-sided’, and their ratio in a
population is kept at 1:1 through frequency-dependent natural selection, which
is exerted via prey alertness. In other words, if one type of fish becomes more
common, prey become better able to detect that morphological type, putting it
at a disadvantage, and tipping the balance in favour of the less common type,
which subsequently breeds more successfully, and increases in frequency in the
population. One cat-fish species provides another interesting example in the
form of brood parasitism. Many cichlids keep their fertilized spawn in their
mouths until the fry hatch. The fry of one cat-fish species take advantage of
this by creeping into the cichlid’s mouth, where they grow whilst eating the
fry of their host.
5.
Geographical Features
Mahale Mountains National Park (1 613 km2)
is about 128 km south of Kigoma Town, and forms a peninsula that juts out into
Lake Tanganyika. Its center lies 6°00’ – 6°28’ S and 29°43’ – 30°60’ E.
The western boundary of the park protects
not only the lake shore but also an adjacent 1.6 km-wide strip of Lake
Tanganyika’s waters. The Park’s terrain is mostly rugged and hilly, and is
dominated by the Mahale Mountains chain that runs from the northwest to the
southeast across the park. The highest peak is 2,462 m a.s.l.
There are two seasons in the park.
Generally, the dry season starts in mid-May and ends in mid-October with a
maximum mean temperature of 31°C. The rainy season lasts from mid-October until
mid-May. During both seasons, temperatures can fluctuate, particularly between
day and night. The annual rainfall ranges between 1 500 and 2 500 mm.
6.
Unique characteristics of Mahale Mountain
- A remote, road-free National Park accessible only by boat or light aircraft
- Conservation of indigenous fish of Lake Tanganyika: no fishing (except under special licence) is permitted within 1.6 km of the shore line
- Mixture of west- and East-African fauna and flora
- Unique combination of forests, mountains and lake
- Abundant primate life: at least 9 species of non-human primates including an habituated group of chimpanzees
- Intact fauna of mammal predators including leopards, lions and African wild dogs
Chimpanzee in the Mahale Mountain National Park
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