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Situated on a stretch of golden sandy beach and overlooking waters of Lake Tanganyika the recently refurbished Mbali Mbali Mahale is the perfect blend of comfort and luxury in a romantic setting. The spacious tents are furnished in the upscale safari style, with unbeatable sunsets over the mountains of Congo. Candlelit dinners are served either on the beach or in our dining area, to the unique sounds of Africa - beetles, crickets and the night calls of chimpanzees, the perfect way to relax after a perfect day! As well as being famous for chimpanzee tracking, this part of Lake Tanganyika offers some of the best fresh water fishing in Tanzania. Here you can catch ‘Sangara’ (Nile Perch), ‘Kuhe’ (Yellow Belly) to name just a few. So be it a strenuous chimpanzee trek, a scenic boat trip, an adventurous fishing excursion or just time spent relaxing on cushioned sun beds while listening to the lapping of the waves, your stay will be a memorable experience to take away with you.
Star ratings are intended to indicate the general level of features, amenities, and services to expect. This property is classified according to Giata.
My family and I just returned from an unforgettable stay at Mbali Mbali. From the moment you land and you take the boat to the lodge you are surrounded by lush and serene jungle and felt like we were on our own deserted island (even though it’s a lake). The cabanas are perfectly decorated and we loved at the woodwork and the lodge was a perfect place to relax and enjoy the scenery. The staff was very warm and welcoming and took care of everything we could possibly want. The food was delicious and had some of the best seafood I’ve had in a long time. Our guide Rhama was very knowledgeable and went above and beyond to make sure my dream of seeing the chimps in the wild came true and we had two very successful chimp treks and even had a chimp walk through camp one day! It was great to just walk behind the lodge to start the hike (the neighboring lodge guests had to take a boat to over where we were both days to start their treks). Between the chimps and the incredible ambiance we had an incredible stay and highly recommend Mblai Mbali to anyone looking to visit the area
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Date of stay: February 2022Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
This is one of the top lodges from the few I have been on safari in Tanzania’s National Parks. The welcome , smiling and homely staff , with clean elegant rooms on top of hard wood decks with 5 star facilities, big beds with birds singing in the morning to wake you up with spectacular views of Lake Tanganyika. Sarah and Stuart have been our great hosts with Rama the guide who knows Chimps by their names and families. Rama was born and raised in village and his father worked for Jane Goodall ! Food was amazing with Chef Anthony in control of his bush kitchen. This is where you should stay when visiting beautiful, unspoiled and the well conserved Mahale Mountains National Park.
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Date of stay: January 2020Trip type: Travelled with friends
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
After a two hour flight from Dar es Salaam and a scenic but hard 5 hour road transfer from Kigoma over very bad roads, we reached the point where we transferred to the lodge’s boat for the last hour of the day’s travel and immediately the magic started. On the boat, underway to the lodge, we saw African fish eagles, Palm nut vultures and red colobus monkeys in the trees at the water's edge. Arriving at the lodge, we were warmly welcomed by the staff and shown to our very luxurious and comfortable safari tent. Hiking in the forest to see the chimpanzees was hard in the high humidity, but ultimately very rewarding. Our guide, Sixtus, was very informative and helpful, as was the tracker who had gone ahead to find the chimpanzees and guide us to them. Food at the lodge was amazingly good when taking into account the remoteness and logistical challenges. Overall a brilliant experience.
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Date of stay: February 2023Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Wow. What an amazing experience staying at Mbali Mbali. First, the staff is amazing, great cocktails (we created a drink with tequila, fresh passion fruit, an a topper of club soda - try it!), social, and always ready to find you when there are Chimpanzees in/around the camp (3 times during our stay). We booked a 3 night stay and extended it 2 more nights as that is all our scheduled would allow us to extend or else we may have considered staying even longer.
The food was amazing and if you love spicy just let them know and you will not be disappointed. We still dream about the hash browns!!! Also we are both vegan, they took care to accommodate us with plenty of vegetables and some of the best soups we have ever tasted.
Our guide was Ramadan who is an expert and very professional, if you get him consider yourself lucky!
In the camp there were always baboons, monkeys, wild pigs (night), and sometimes even chimpanzees. Crocs swim by the lagoon in the evenings as well!
The trekking was great and the staff is really in touch with the spotters and local rangers. If the Chimps are not spotted you just hang out longer in the lodge until its time to trek and see them.
Don't miss the boat safari, we will never forget seeing a hippo under the clear water running/swimming around as we floated over it.
I know my review is all over the place but there were so many epic memories! The rooms are immaculate and there is wifi, I was able to take a couple work calls there and keep up to date with my business.
110% worth it!!!
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Date of stay: January 2021
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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
The lodge is stunning and recently re-done. The rooms are comfortable, staff are fantastic and hugely knowledgable, and the food was delicious. The chimp treks with Mbali Mbali's guides were awesome and the boat to/from the lodge was a big dhow with comfy cushioned seats. Highly recommend a visit!
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Date of stay: July 2023
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Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
It's not easy to get too, but if you can get there, it's totally worth it. No roads, only air and boat. Extremely exclusive, and beautiful resort. It's unimaginable how this place could be in the middle of no where like that. You arrive by a large unique boat after a great ride along the coast. The resort is fantastic. Beautiful bandas right along the beach, nicely distanced from each other. Lake Tanganika is perfectly splendid. The teal water is as warm as a bathtub. The surrounding mountains are awesome. Huge, jungle covered mountains full of chimpanzees. The service was impeccable and the staff made us feel right at home. Its very spacious and had plenty of room for social distancing. The staff went above and beyond to make sure we are all completely comfortable. We were lucky enough to meet the owners. Very nice people. You can tell they treat their staff well by the comradery amongst them. They were all very happy to be there. We travelled there for chimpanzee trekking. Both days saw many, many chimpanzees. Even a 6 month old baby. Our main guide was very good. very knowledgeable, educated and enthusiastic. This place is a hidden treasure. A rewarding place to visit.
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Date of stay: November 2020
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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Mbali Mbali Mahale, Owner at Mbali Mbali Mahale Lodge
Responded 10 Feb 2021
Dear GEOCASS, Thank you so much for taking the time to share your experience about your stay at Mbali Mbali Mahale Lodge. Your feedback is our biggest compliment and your chimpanzee trekking experience was just amazing and so happy this was possible in your stay! After all, these interactions are ones we hope for with all our clients but can never be guaranteed with wildlife ;). Thank you for your kind words about our lodge facilities and our team. We truly hope you have fond memories of your time and hope to host you again in the future! Kind regards, Mbali Mbali Mahale Lodge
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
From the moment we were met at the airstrip and taken by boat to the lodge, we knew we were in excellent hands. The staff were knowledgeable, friendly and looked after us so well throughout. The lodge itself is stunning - beautifully decorated with loads of places to sit and relax in comfort. Our ‘tents’ were the height of luxury with lovely little extras, like a footbath for us to soak our feet in after a long trek. The food was exceptional - I don’t know how they produced such delicious meals in such a remote spot! And then there were the chimpanzees - what an experience! We saw them both days and were able to observe and understand their behaviour with fascinating explanations and background from our guides, who knew the chimps, their history and their standing within the group. Sarah and Stuart are doing a great job, so a huge thanks to them, Andrew, Rama, Samji and all the lovely staff for an unforgettable experience!
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Review collected in partnership with this attraction
Date of stay: January 2020Trip type: Travelled with friends
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Our experience at Mbalimbali Mahale mountain lodge was great. The chimpanzee trekking was the hi light of our trip. Our director Rama was an excellent host and chimpanzee guide. Our lodge host, John, was the hardest working person ever attending to our all needs. The boat captain and our chef were top notch! Our visit to Mahale Mountain National Park was definitely worth it.
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Date of stay: October 2022Trip type: Travelled with friends
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
I wanted to share my experience because there were no current reviews when I was doing my research. Mahale was difficult to fit into our two week itinerary because we were a party of two and the flights require more people to make the trip. We ended up fitting it in when others were already going and booked at our lodge. Our flight had two people going to Greystoke Lodge (the only guests there as it turned out) and we arrived at Mbali Mbali along with two other parties, totalling 8 of us. Like many other destinations in Tanzania right now, you have the place to yourselves. The staff is wonderful, knowledgeable, kind. Food is very good. Accomodations are exotic and the chimp trekking very successful. The first day we had a mild hike and good viewing. The second day was a very steep and strenuous hike for good viewing. It is dry in July/August but you still need good hiking shoes and the walking stick they provide or poles. We spent only a small amount of time on the lake one morning, but a nice bit of birding and dropline fishing. Highly recommend this excursion to Mahale and the Mbali Mbali lodge.
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Date of stay: July 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We spent 4 days living in total comfort on the shores of Lake Tanganyika while we trekked to see the chimps every day. The lodge and accommodations were lovely and comfortable and the chimp trekking was fantastic. The staff at Mbali Mbali was excellent and took very good care of us and our guide was outstanding. He had 25 years of experience and knew not only the chimps habits and habitat, we knew all of them by name. Seeing the Chimps was remarkable and gaining a deeper knowledge about them enhanced the experience. I loved everything about Mbali Mbali Mahale Lodge and our stay there.
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Date of stay: September 2023
Value
Location
Service
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
There are more places to choose from in the Mahale Mountains National Park area.
LOCATION
TanzaniaKigoma RegionMahale Mountains National Park
NUMBER OF ROOMS
10
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