mahale

Famous for containing some of the last remaining wild chimpanzees in Africa, the Mahale Mountains National Park was 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.

The terrain is mostly rugged and hilly, and is dominated by the Mahale Mountain chain that runs from the northwest to the southeast across the park.