History
"The air is scented with jasmine, the forest rich, the water of the lake gin-clear and lightly chilled. And if I dare to put an imprint on this paradise I had better get it right" - Roland Purcell
Irish adventurer, Roland Purcell, discovered the barefoot beach paradise of Mahale in the 1980s whilst on a long walkabout around East Africa looking for the meaning of life. Enticed by the clear cool waters of Lake Tanganyika he fell upon a long stretch of clear white sand and decided to stay awhile.
Here he found that a small group of chimpanzees had been habituated by a Japanese research
Practically no-one ever visited this remote and far-flung place and he wandered for many days without seeing a soul.
group, in a project that had spanned the previous fifteen years. Practically no-one ever visited this remote and far-flung place and he wandered for many days without seeing a soul.
Whether it was the chimpanzees or the white sand on the lakeshore, the gin-clear water, or the range of towering mountains behind that drew him in it's hard to know, but he sat down on the beach that perfect day in June 1988 and decided he wasn't going to leave. From his daily beach musings, whilst he stared across the clear waters of the lake, came the amazing fantasy camp of Greystoke Mahale.
