Mahale Mountains or Udzungwa Mountains?
The two parks side by side on what you will see, what you can do, what it costs, how you get there and the health picture, with the facts behind every rating.
Our verdict
Both are walking parks built around primates, but Mahale is a roadless lakeshore reached by plane and boat, while Udzungwa is a forest you can drive to on tarmac from Dar es Salaam. Pick Mahale for habituated chimpanzees: treks in groups of at most 6 visitors, up to an hour with the chimps, and Lake Tanganyika for swimming and snorkelling in designated areas. It is expensive: $94.40 a day in entry, flights on Mondays and Thursdays only, and camps closed from March to May. Pick Udzungwa for a cheap, flexible forest trip: $35.40 entry, no vehicle fee, beds in its guide from $20 to $90, and 11 primate species including 2 found nowhere else. A guide is mandatory on every trail, with at most 6 people per guide, and the Sanje Waterfall walk takes 4 to 5 hours. Our guides publish no route between these two parks.
Best for birding Mahale MountainsBest for walking Mahale MountainsBest for on the water Mahale MountainsBest for low budget Udzungwa MountainsBest for wilderness Mahale Mountains
Tap a row label to see the reasoning behind a rating.
| Compare | Mahale Mountains1,577 km² | Udzungwa Mountains1,990 km² |
|---|---|---|
| 1Jul to Oct for trekking | 1Jun to Sep for hiking | |
1Jul to Oct for trekkingChimpanzees: Est. 800–1,000; Habituated M group: ±60–75 individuals; Studied since: 1965 (M group 1968) | 1Jun to Sep for hikingStrict endemic primates: 2 species; Primate species: 11; Udzungwa red colobus: 25,000–35,000 | |
| Elephant | Rare | Fair chance |
| Lion | Rare | Absent |
| Leopard | Rare | Rare |
| Buffalo | Rare | Rare |
| Wild dog | Rare | Not published |
| Cheetah | Not published | Not published |
| Hippo | Rare | Not published |
| Giraffe | Rare | Not published |
3398 speciesAbout 398 bird species listed on the wildlife page. | 3400 speciesAbout 400 bird species listed on the wildlife page. | |
| 4Water | 4Walking | |
4Everything is on foot with an authorised ranger: daily chimpanzee treks in groups of six with one hour at the sighting, forest walks at $20 to $25, and multi-day hikes towards Mount Nkungwe. | 4Every attraction is a guided walk, from the 1 km Prince Bernhard Falls to the 6 km Sanje Waterfall and the five-day, 65 km Lumemo Trail; a TANAPA guide is mandatory and plateau routes need an armed ranger. | |
2bestThere are no vehicles and so no night drives; the tariff prices night nature walks at $10. | 1Night walks are not offered and there are no night activities in the park. | |
4bestSwimming in designated areas of clear lake water, snorkelling over endemic cichlids at $10, kayaking at $10, boat safaris at $20, dhow sundowners and sport fishing. | 1The only water activity listed is swimming in the waterfall plunge pools at Sanje and Njokamoni. | |
1There are no roads in the park; every arrival is a light aircraft followed by a 1 to 2 h boat to camp. | 1There are no roads and no game drives inside the park; your vehicle stays parked at Mang'ula headquarters. | |
| $30cheapest bed | $20cheapest bed | |
$94.40International adult per day ({'name': 'Official TANAPA tariff sheet 2023/24 (still in force; no newer tariff has been gazetted)', 'url': 'https://www.tanzaniaparks.go.tz/uploads/publications/en-1688147569-TARIFFS%20Design%20202324.pdf'}, 2026-07-26). | $35.40bestInternational adult per day ({'name': 'Official TANAPA tariff (GN 666/2018, 490A/2020, 181/2016), cross-checked against the TANAPA Udzungwa park brochure', 'url': 'https://tanzaniaparks.go.tz/uploads/publications/en-1615966435-NEWTARIFF.pdf'}, 2026-07-27). | |
$30Lowest listed rate per person per night across 5 places; 2 are budget tier. | $20bestLowest listed rate per person per night across 7 places; 4 are budget tier. | |
$520Median of 5 priced places; top end $1,125. | $50bestMedian of 6 priced places; top end $90. | |
3Cheapest listed bed $30, 2 of 5 places in the budget tier, park fee $94.40 a day. | 4bestCheapest listed bed $20, 4 of 7 places in the budget tier, park fee $35.40 a day. | |
| $6,300mid-range | ||
$838.80Budget one: the independent route that barely exists | Not published | |
$6,300Budget two: mid-range, at Mbali Mbali Mahale | Not published | |
$14,190Budget three: fly-in and top-end, at Greystoke Mahale | Not published | |
| Mahale airstripnearest airport | Dar es Salaam (DAR)nearest airport | |
Mahale airstrip, then ±1 to 2 h by boat; flights Mon and Thu onlyFrom the getting-there and flights pages. | Dar es Salaam (DAR), 380 km, 4 to 6 h on tarFrom the getting-there and flights pages. | |
No roads in the parkFrom the getting-there page. | Not needed; no roads inside the parkFrom the getting-there page. | |
| Jul to Oct for trekkingpeak game viewing | Jun to Sep for hikingpeak game viewing | |
Jul to Oct for trekkingFrom the best-time page. | Jun to Sep for hikingFrom the best-time page. | |
All camps closed Mar to MayFrom the best-time page. | Open all year; avoid trekking mid-Mar to MayFrom the best-time page. | |
| All of Tanzania below 1malaria | High below 1,800 m (NaTHNaC)malaria | |
All of Tanzania below 1,800 m, year-roundFrom the health page. | High below 1,800 m (NaTHNaC)From the health page. | |
Not publishedNo Mahale page mentions tsetse. | Not publishedNo Udzungwa page mentions tsetse. | |
September, 28.1°C mean maxMean daily maximum of the hottest month, from the health page. | October, ±31°CMean daily maximum of the hottest month, from the health page. | |
Kigoma, ±130 km, a boat day awayFrom the health page. | Ifakara, about 47 km, 1 hFrom the health page. | |
| 5Wilderness | 4Wilderness | |
1Chimpanzee trekking carries a stated minimum age of 12, malaria risk runs all year, flights operate only on Monday and Thursday, and Kigoma, the nearest hospital town, is a boat day away. | 2bestDar es Salaam is 4 to 6 h on tar and Ifakara's hospital about an hour away, but malaria risk is high, the trails are steep and slick, and no lodge publishes a child policy beyond family rooms. | |
1Not a game-viewing park: elephant, buffalo and lion live on inaccessible eastern slopes, and chimpanzees are likely over two or three treks but never guaranteed. | 1A primate and bird park, not a big-game park: Udzungwa red colobus are guaranteed, while elephant, buffalo and leopard take luck and lion is absent. | |
5bestNo roads, arrival by dhow, and August, the busiest month, brought 147 international visitors in 2024; all camps sit on the western lakeshore strip. | 4No interior road network and multi-day treks into deep wilderness on the Lumemo Trail; the Sanje route is the busy one. |
Compare all of Tanzania's parks on the comparison page. Udzungwa Mountains has its own guide at udzungwanationalpark.com.
How the ratings work
- Big game is calculated from each park's sightings table on its wildlife page: guaranteed counts 3, likely 2, a fair chance 1, rare 0.5 and absent 0, across elephant, lion, leopard, buffalo, wild dog, cheetah, hippo and giraffe, scaled so that 16 points is 5 out of 5.
- Birding follows the species count on the wildlife page. Low-budget safari follows the cheapest listed bed, the share of budget places and the daily park fee.
- Walking, night drives, water, self-drive, families, first safari and wilderness are our ratings, whole numbers from 1 to 5. Press "Why?" on any row to read the facts each one rests on, with the page they come from. Where a rule is not published we say so rather than guess.
- Prices are per person per night in US dollars as listed on the lodges pages, before park fees; the three-night totals come from each park's costs page and use the dated rates there. Fees are the international adult rate per day.