Reviews of Greystoke Mahale

"We did have some apprehensions before coming to Mahale as we had great expectations and were not sure how we would take to the chimps. Suffice to say, Mahale and Greystoke did not disappoint.

The camp is located in a fantastic spot and the palatial rooms are full of character and intricate details.

But no doubt, the chimps are the star attraction. We were lucky to get very good sightings every day of our stay and while the trekking can be a bit strenous, it was still doable for the unfit (ie. us).

The crystal clear waters of the lake are especially appealing after a morning's hiking and just relaxing by the beach is a great complement (or even alternative...) to the chimp trekking. A cool cocktail by the lake and a wholesome dinner perfectly rounded off our days and it felt almost unreal to head back home from this fantastic place." See all these reviews: 15n in Tanzania

"Wonderful location and accomodation and although the manager (Nicola) was only a temp she did a brilliant job.
The food was excellent without exception.

The guides were the poorest on the trip. Rather quiet and not very knowlegeable but nice enough and once again it was good that they were around for an evening drink. When guiding they tended to speak together in their own language and give no information on what was happening.

Lake Tanganyka was really lovely for swimming in and I had no idea that fishing could be so much fun. No mosquitos and few tsetse flies!

Perfect relaxing end to the holiday." See all these reviews: 15n in Tanzania

"A rainy arrival did not mar our delight at the fabulous setting of Greystoke. The emerald mountains cloaked in cloud, the white sand beach and the clear waters of Lake Tanganyika. The sun came out as we were welcomed onshore by our hosts Nicola and Peter.

The banda was well appointed and comfortable with a beautiful view! Bit disappointed to discover more tsetse flies, which had been a bane to us for the previous few days. However, the excitement and wonder of spending time with chimpanzees in the wild made up for this. A hard, brisk hour or so trek on our first full day was rewarded with an hour spent with 'M' troop, quietly learning about the different characters. We were surrounded and at times found ourselves closer than planned when they became excited, started calling and moving quickly about. Especially close encounter with Pim, the alpha male and two other males who dashed by! Tumbling adolescent males were captivating but it was over all too soon. Our guide Larazzo moved us away and then produced flapjacks to sustain us on our walk back to camp!

The second day involved a more leisurely walk until we got the call from the trackers, then it was full speed ahead as we made our way to the lake and a boat pick up to take us a bit further south. Here we spent time with some of M troop again, mesmerised by Emory sleeping peacefully on a high, narrow branch and Kalunde and Kombo endlessly grooming each other. Once again Larazzo and Kakae (our other guide) were informative, interesting and careful of our safety. There was always something to learn on the forest walks when we weren't route marching!

Other highlights of our stay at Greystoke included warthogs, baboons and vervet monkeys wandering on the beach, glimpses of a blue duiker and a red tailed monkey in the forest, swimming in the lake and enjoying the relaxed hospitality and good company. The service was good and the food enjoyable, but perhaps not top class. Probably a once in a lifetime visit and well worth the effort of the long journey in and out. Shame we didn't see more primates and we were disappointed not to get a third trek as the outbound flight time was brought forward." See all these reviews: 13n in Tanzania

"For a premier camp, this falls short of the mark. This is a camp living on it's past reputation and the best chimp viewing experience to be found. The rooms are fantastic and the general staff very helpful, but the managment and the quality of the food needs to be improved. Other than the two latter points this is a fantastic location and I would recommend anyone who wants to see chimps in their natural environment should add this to their list of things to do. It is truely amazing but be prepared to work for the pleasure as the walking can be steep and very sticky. Having said this our first Chimp viewing was 50m from the breakfast table." See all these reviews: 10n in Tanzania; 1n in Kenya

"Greystoke is a small camp with luxurious beach-hut style accommodation, located on the shores of Lake Tanganyika. The location and the buildings are beautiful, and the food and service superb. The staff are absolutely excellent, particularly the guides whose knowledge and enthusiasm made the walks a pleasure.

The main reason people visit Greystoke is for chimp trekking. Depending on where the chimps happen to be on any given day, this may require several hours of walking, so you should be aware that you may not be able to see the chimps if you are not capable of walking for such a time. You should also be aware that you can only spend a maximum of 1 hour per day with the chimps.

If you are lucky enough to find the chimps (as we were on all 3 days), you will love getting a close-up view of them in the wild. We had the good fortune to spot them "fishing" for ants, as well as getting a glimpse of a young baby and the alpha male, who's an impressive lump of a lad! It's an absolutely great experience.

If the chimps are not too far away, you will have the chance for some relaxation in the afternoons. The lake is fantastic for swimming, crystal clear and cool. The camp also has facilities for kayaking and fishing, so you can try to catch your dinner. Greystoke is the perfect place to stay if you want to incorporate a little bit of relaxation into a hectic safari schedule." See all these reviews: 11n in Tanzania

"The experience of observing wild chimpanzees at close quarters was totally enthralling. To do so in such a beautiful setting is beyond words.

The experience is very different from other safari lodges/national parks in that the focus is on one species and you learn about the individual characters and relationships within the chimpanzee community. The excellent guides know each individual by name and who they are related to and associate with and their ranking in the group. Totally fascinating.

It was also a nice change to be somewhere with no vehicles - all acess is by boat - and all game viewing by foot, without the need for armed wardens.

Other widlife included red-tailed and blue monkeys and red colobus. Birds are hard to observe in the thick forest but there are some unusual species for those with patience.

The camp was lovely and the African staff very friendly. But we did have a couple of gripes: all twelve guests had to eat together at all meal times, even breakfast heaven forbid. We felt the others were a dull lot and we would much have preferred to avoid the enforced mixing. That of course is the luck of the draw but it does nevertheless take the gloss off.

We were not impressed with the camp manageress who did not convey any real enthusiasm or interest for the wildlife and local ecology and was more into 'fun activities' and talked about setting up yoga sessions etc. She was a fine hostess in some respects but lacked a bit of sensitivity to different guests interests and was somewhat out of place in this camp. Her No 2 seemed quite bored and was clearly looking forward to moving on.

There is some good information provided on the chimpanzees but no maps and little on the local geography and ecology" See all these reviews: 13n in Tanzania; 3n in Zanzibar

"At Mahale we also had a great experience in an area in complete contrast to Katavi, which was after all our intent and your company's intent in linking these two sites for this trip. Again the camp staff, managers and guides were excellent and once again the chef managed marvels (how do they do it?).

The experience of walking through the forest/jungle areas was new to us as we had only been in Katavi-like areas before. On two of the three walks we managed to get to see the chimps at relatively low levels and in areas where we could see them easily. The sight of the alpha male charging past waiving a stick to emphasise his position was a humbling experience. I was just glad he was ignoring us!

I do however have to make a few negative comments. I am only doing this because I fear that you might be hearing from others who were in our group and their comments might be more negative.

Could I first say that our group may have been atypical in that, apart from two late twenty year olds, who had recently climbed Kilimanjaro, we were all 60+ years old. Now being 60+ is not a barrier in itself and those of us who were used to mountain walking were equipped with suitable walking boots/sticks etc. and were reasonably fit: the same could not be said for some of the others.

There were people who had never done any serious walking and were wearing footwear that was woefully inadequate and trousers that did not cover their legs. This led to them slipping and falling on the dry sandy steep paths. The good news was nobody was seriously injured, just a few cuts and bruises.

The first day trekking to find the Chimps was one of those days when the chimps started off high up and just carried on up. This led to us being out on an 8 hour walk through some very rough terrain, indeed one member of the group was out for 10 hours, having to be escorted back at a very slow pace by one of the guides. All members of the group, including the twenty year olds, were pretty well exhausted when we returned but some of them were exhausted to the point where they were a danger to themselves. Those of us who have some experience of distance walking, including the Kilimanjaro pair, also felt that for a walk of that distance and in the humid conditions, the water supply was inadequate and perhaps food was required.

I am aware that nobody can predict where the chimps will move after the start of the walk but I feel that the cause of the problem is the fact that it is not made as clear as perhaps it could be, by both the travel companies booking your camps and indeed in some of your Internet pages, just how tough some of the walks can be.

I appreciate that the first walk may have been the only chance we had to see the chimps and that therefore the camp managers and the guides were determined to try to get us to them. But perhaps this determination may blind them to the capabilities of some guests. However I feel that some greater assessment of the abilities of some guests would help avoid the situation we found ourselves in, with some of us having to drop back to help people who were really struggling on the descent.

That said, we managed to view the chimps on each of the three days we went out looking, and indeed on the second and third days the chimps were found within a couple of hours walk. There is therefore no criticism of the ability of the guides and trackers in finding the chimp groups.

Overall therefore I felt that more advice should be given to potential guests as to exactly what sort of walking can be involved. It was quite apparent that others in the party had no idea of the potential extent or difficulty of the walks. I had booked via Expert Africa in the UK and had specifically asked about the possible severity of the walking and even they had I feel somewhat understated the situation. I feel that if people turn up at the camps who are quite clearly not well equipped, either fitness wise or footware/clothing wise, that it should be made very clear that if the chimps are some distance from the camp that a severe walk may be involved and then it would be up to them whether they went or not.

The main sufferers in our group were four American ladies who all seemed to be planning to write to complain so I felt that I should give my view as perhaps a balance. The other camps they had visited were ones where they were transported in jeeps etc. and I got the impression that they did not really take in the fact that this camp was very different.

I must however stress that this problem on one day did not spoil the holiday and we had a really great time at both Katavi and Mahale. Both the camps were superbly run and your staff excellent both at the camps and during transits. We would be very happy to recommend this trip to anyone (who could do the walking)." See all these reviews: 9n in Tanzania