Lake Tanganyika
The home to many primates including Gombe and Mahale wild chimpanzees and a rich variety of mammals, birds and butterflies. The Lake Tanganyika is arguably the most beautiful Great Lake in Africa, formed in the Great African Rift Valley, with long, deserted beaches of silver sand backed by tropical forest on chimpanzee habitat mountains.
Lake Tanganyika is the world’s longest about 660Km, deepest lake in Africa and second-deepest in the world (more than 1436m) and second-largest (by volume) and freshwater lake.
Between nine and 13 million years old, it’s also one of the oldest.
The age and ecological isolation it’s home to an exceptional number of endemic fish, including 98% of the 250-plus species of cichlids. Cichlids are popular aquarium fish due to their bright colours, and they make Tanganyika an outstanding snorkeling and diving destination.
Many of the numerous peoples (predominantly Bantu-speaking) living on the lake’s eastern borders trace their origins to areas in the Congo River basin. The lake was first visited by Europeans in 1858, when the British explorers Sir Richard Burton and John Hanning Speke reached Ujiji, on the lake’s eastern shore, in their quest for the source of the Nile River. In 1871 Henry (later Sir Henry) Morton Stanley “found” David Livingstone at Ujiji. Important ports situated along Lake Tanganyika are Bujumbura (Burundi), Kalemi (Congo), and Ujiji and Kigoma (Tanzania).
WHAT TO DO
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Historical tour at Jiweni Kamba, the old Kipili Church, the Church was built by the French White Fathers at the end of the 1800’s and is one of the oldest churches in Tanzania. It stands on the hill looking down onto Lake Tanganyika and the nearby islands “Kipili Monastery only remains of white sisters quarters”
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Beach Holiday along the Lake Shore or Lupita Private Island
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Culture tourism, village tour, Home stay experience
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Fishing, Diving, Snorkeling, Boat and Canoeing Safari
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Mountain Climbing and trekking, Birding Safari
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Combine historical, Wildlife and beach Holiday
GETTING THERE.
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By scheduled flight from Arusha, Katavi, Ruaha or from Kigoma with a daily flight from Dar es Salaam airport or chartered flight from major cities Dar es Salaam Zanzibar, Arusha and Dodoma.
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By road from Mbeya, Katavi, Kigoma, or Mpanda, but it can be rough, bump road and might be impenetrable, especially in the rainy season.
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By speedboats or timber boats from Kigoma or by large steamship (MV Liemba) leaves Kigoma to Zambia, with numerous stops along the way, including one for Mahale, which is referred to as Lagosa- Mgambo, for park boat to Mahale.
BEST TIME TO VISIT
Possible all year round
ACCOMMODATION
The accommodation are quite limits in number of lodges and camps, very peaceful with sounds of silence, and sound rich of natural with helps to relax.
