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.
Why you'd pick it
- The only way to sleep in Mahale for $30
- Bring absolutely everything, including a plan for getting here
- Realistic only for genuinely self-sufficient travellers
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
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.