Summer is Lake Tanganyika's most rewarding season. Prime chimp viewing is July through September (when trees bear fruit, and chimps hang out in groups instead of dispersing in search of food), and tranquil weather and water make for ideal scuba and snorkeling conditions. There are regularly scheduled flights from the capital of Arusha to Mahale Mountains National Park on Mondays and Thursdays, with seats starting at $650; a private charter costs $4,000 for up to six people. It's possible to observe chimps not only at Mahale Mountains National Park but also at Gombe Stream National Park, a four-hour boat ride north of Kigoma; other wildlife can be found at Zambia's Ngumbu National Park, at Lake Tanganyika's southern end.

Prices quoted are for June 2008.

Lodging

Most African safari camps do not accept direct bookings but will provide referrals to specialists in your home country. I arranged my trip through Mark Nolting of the Africa Adventure Company (800-882-9453; africa-adventure.com).

At Greystoke Mahale, guests stay in seven thatched bandas and eat excellent Zanzibar-influenced cuisine in the central lounge/library, on the beach, or on the dhow. The lodge accepts children of all ages, but Tanzania park rules restrict chimp viewing to those 12 and older. There are no malaria-carrying mosquitoes here, but tsetse flies can be an annoyance; pack hydrocortisone cream to relieve itchy bites (doubles, $1,500, all-inclusive).

At Lupita Island Resort & Spa, 13 freestanding villas have lakeview decks, private plunge pools, and butler service, but the real draw is the chance to experience the lake and local culture before other developers arrive. Besides its six-cabin motor cruiser, the Winsor Rose, Lupita has kayaks, sailboats, Zodiac-style rubber speedboats, and traditional wooden fishing canoes (doubles, $1,750, all-inclusive).

Reading, Etc.

Mark Nolting's Africa's Top Wildlife Countries is useful for anyone wanting to mix and match safari experiences (Global Travel Publishers, $20). Sections of Henry Stanley's How I Found Livingstone and In Darkest Africa contain tantalizing descriptions of Lake Tanganyika as seen through the prism of a huge ego and a 19th-century colonial agenda. First published in 1971, In the Shadow of Man is Jane Goodall's lyrical account of her early and transformative observation of the toolmaking Gombe Stream chimps (Mariner, $15).

The Web site janegoodall.org has information on the current conservation work of the U.S.-based Jane Goodall Institute, while the DVD Jane Goodall's Return to Gombe describes a revolution at a chimp community she studied and its devastating consequences for Frodo, one of her favorite subjects (Sony Pictures, $25). Chimpanzee Politics: Power and Sex Among Apes is primatologist Frans de Waal's account of Machiavellian chimp behavior (Johns Hopkins University Press, $22). If you can't find a (rare) copy of The Chimpanzees of the Mahale Mountains: Sexual and Life History Strategies, by chimp expert Toshisada Nishida (out-of-print), consult jinrui.zool.kyoto-u.ac.jp, the University of Kyoto's Web site for its Mahale Mountains Research Center, which Nishida founded in 1965.