First, a long flight out of Tanzania’s safari circuit. Then another hop. Then, just when you think you’ve arrived, you haven’t. You’re bundled onto a creaky wooden dhow and sent gliding across Lake Tanganyika for another 90 minutes, the shoreline slowly revealing itself like it’s deciding whether to let you in.
When you finally pull up on the beach, it doesn’t make immediate sense. White sand. Clear water. Forest rising behind you. It looks like the Seychelles until a hippo surfaces and ruins that illusion. Then you hear it; the distant, unmistakable calls of chimpanzees echoing from the mountains.
That’s when it clicks. You’re somewhere else entirely. The camp itself leans hard into the castaway fantasy. Six bandas, built from old wooden dhows, sit tucked between forest and lake. Thatched roofs, open fronts, birds darting through, bugs occasionally reminding you this isn’t a sealed environment. It’s not trying to shut nature out, it’s inviting it in.
Days revolve around one thing: the chimps.
You head into the forest with guides, climbing steep tracks, sweating more than expected, until suddenly you’re there, standing among habituated chimpanzees going about their day like you’re barely worth noticing. It’s close, raw, and quietly confronting in a way that sticks.
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Back at camp, things soften. Kayak on the lake as the light fades, drift in a dhow at sunset with sashimi and a drink in hand, or collapse into a pile of cushions in the open-air library watching the sky turn pink over the water.
Meals are communal, relaxed, often on the sand or under thatch. Fresh fish, simple salads, nothing showy, just solid, honest food that does the job after a long day.
It’s remote to the point of absurdity. No roads for hundreds of miles. No quick exits. And yes, the price stings a little when you remember you’re sleeping in a banda.
But then a chimp crashes through the trees above you, or a hippo drifts past at sunset, and you realise this isn’t about comfort.
It’s about being somewhere that doesn’t feel like anywhere else.
Why It Exists
To combine a chimpanzee safari with a castaway beach stay in one of Africa’s most remote corners.
The Vibe
Barefoot safari meets tropical castaway. Remote, raw, and quietly surreal.
Your Bed Tonight
Thatched banda built from old boats, open to the forest with nets, hammocks and lake views.
The Thing You’ll Brag About Later
Standing metres from wild chimpanzees in the forest.
Eat / Drink This
Fresh fish dinners and sunset sashimi by the lake.
Steal This Local Move
Go kayaking at last light, the lake goes still and the world disappears.
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