TANAPA campsites
Unserviced camping, fully self-sufficient · Public and special campsites within the park · Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA)
A drawing, because nobody has sent us a photograph of TANAPA campsites yet. Send five and this page changes the same week.
Budget
Inside the park
Park-run (TANAPA)
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.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Only way to sleep in Mahale for $30
- Same remote shore and same chimps as the priciest camps
- Year-round, with no mandatory group booking for the public site
- Children aged 5 to 15 pay a reduced rate
- Cheapest possible route into a world-class primate park
Cons
- Bring absolutely everything, including a plan to get here
- No road and no shop within a day's travel
- Special and fly campsites need advance booking
- No transfers provided; solve your own boat first
What's here
- Campsite
Arranged from the lodge:
- Chimpanzee treks
Read from TANAPA campsites's own website in July 2026. Anything not listed we could not confirm, which is not the same as it being absent.
What the park charges on top
The rate above buys you a bed. Mahale Mountains National Park charges its own entry fee for every day you are inside. Here is what that adds up to.
- Park entry$80 plus 18% VAT per 24 hours, and that fee is the chimpanzee trekking cost.
- $94.4per person, per day
Three nights means three days inside, so two adults pay $566.4 in park fees before anyone pays for a bed.
No vehicles here.
The full fee schedule for Mahale Mountains National ParkRates at TANAPA campsites
From $30 pppn. Public campsite $30, special and fly campsites $50, all per person per night, VAT-exclusive. Children 5 to 15 pay $5 to $10. Special and fly campsites require prior booking.
What the rate covers is not confirmed. We do not know yet whether meals, drinks and activities are included, so read this as the bed only.
Every figure 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.
Questions about TANAPA campsites
How much do the TANAPA campsites in Mahale cost?
The public campsite costs $30 per person per night, and special or fly campsites cost $50, all excluding VAT. Children aged 5 to 15 pay $5 to $10. Special and fly campsites need prior booking, while the public site does not, though you must still arrange your own boat transfer.
How do you get to the TANAPA campsites in Mahale?
There is no road into Mahale's tourism zone at all, so you fly to Mahale airstrip and then take a boat along the lakeshore, a transfer TANAPA does not provide. This only makes sense for travellers who have already solved that boat problem, usually arranged from Kigoma.
Are the TANAPA campsites in Mahale good for families?
On price, children aged 5 to 15 pay $5 to $10 against the $30 adult rate. But there is no road, no shop within a day's travel and no transfer provided, so this suits only a genuinely self-sufficient family that has already solved its own boat logistics, not a first-time visitor.
Should you camp at the TANAPA campsites or book the Kasiha bandas in Mahale?
Camping is cheaper at $30 a person, but TANAPA's own Kasiha bandas at $40 are the more practical budget option, since camping here requires you to already have a working boat plan, usually from Kigoma, and to bring everything you need for a park with no road and no shop nearby.