5 places to stay
Every lodge, camp and campsite in and around the park, from simple campsites to exclusive-use camps on the game circuits. Independently listed.
The near-identical name is a genuine trap: Nkungwe Beach Lodge is a separate, cheaper, independent property, not the renamed Kungwe Beach Lodge. What you give up in cushions you do not give up in chimpanzees, because every camp on this shore treks to the same habituated community. For most travellers this is the sensible mid-range answer to Mahale.
From about $520 pppn
Formerly Kungwe Beach Lodge, and still listed under that name on many aggregator sites. It is the same property renamed, not a second camp, and Mbali Mbali confirmed that to us in writing on 2 September 2026. The lodge has since been entirely rebuilt: new furniture and interiors, a viewing deck off the main lounge, larger rooms with sliding doors and double basins, and new salas and loungers on the beach. The trekking, kayaking and boat safari programme matches its pricier neighbour. If Greystoke is out of reach, this is the comfortable way to do Mahale.
From $683 pppn
The most famous camp in western Tanzania and the most expensive in either western park, frequently described in the safari trade as the best camp in Tanzania. Six bandas of reclaimed dhow timber open onto the sand, the bar is built into the boulders above the beach, and the arrival is by wooden dhow with a drink in hand. You pay heavily for it, but nothing else on this lake looks like this.
From $1,125 pppn
At roughly one fiftieth of Greystoke's peak nightly rate, the park's own bandas at Kasiha are what makes a budget Mahale trip possible at all. They are basic and self-catering, and the logistics are yours to solve, but you sleep on the same shore and trek to the same chimpanzees. Book ahead through the TANAPA reservation system and bring everything you need.
$40 pppn
Camping in Mahale is priced like camping anywhere in the TANAPA system, but the park is not like anywhere else: there is no road to drive in on and no shop within a day's travel. It only makes sense for travellers who have already solved the boat problem, usually from Kigoma. For everyone else, the Kasiha bandas are the practical budget option.
From $30 pppn
Nothing matches all of those at once. Take one filter off and try again.
Mahale has no road, no farm and no village inside the tourism zone, so every camp here is a beach camp reached by boat. All camps track the same habituated M group of chimpanzees: the wildlife experience is identical whichever you book, and what you pay for is the bed, the food and the boat. TANAPA's own bandas at Kasiha make Mahale one of the few world-class primate destinations with a genuine budget route in.
Every price on this page is in US dollars.
Indicative 2026/27 rates from operators' published rate sheets, gathered July 2026. Always confirm with the lodge. One thing to watch when comparing: Greystoke's packaged rates include park fees, while at the TANAPA bandas and campsites the $80 daily conservation fee and $20 group guide fee come on top of the bed price.
Facilities and activities come from each property's own website, read in July 2026. We only record what that property's own page states. A blank means we could not check it, not that it is missing. Filtering on a facility shows only what we confirmed, and tells you how many places we could not check.
