Katavi National Park
Known for its diverse landscapes and abundance of game, Katavi National Park’s drawcard is its remoteness. This has ensured that the area has remained completely unspoilt. With so few visitors around, a Katavi safari is guaranteed to make you feel like the only people on earth! With large populations of elephants, lions, hippos and more, game viewing is beyond spectacular, especially during the dry season when water sources dwindle.
As a result few people make the effort to come here and so it has remained an untouched, unique experience, and absolutely worth visiting.
It is one of the best parks in Africa and many safari operations would love to start camps here. However, the logistics and costs are so difficult, that there are only a couple of small, permanent safari camps sharing this 4,500km² of wilderness. You sometimes run across more prides of lion than other people on a game drive.
Game in the park is plentiful, with large populations of elephant, buffalo, zebra, a wide variety of antelope and giraffe.
There are plenty of predators here, too, including lion, leopard, cheetah and African wild dog. The main river through the park, the Katuma River, dries to a few muddy pools during the dry season and it is here where you can see huge numbers of hippos crammed into small pools, resulting in terrifying fights between the males.
Best time to visit
Katavi National Park offers great game viewing all year round but reaches its peak during the dry season from June to November or December when the animals gather in their thousands around scarce water sources.
During the wet season, the floodplains turn to lakes and provide spectacular birdwatching opportunities.
Activities
The main activity, of course, is game viewing, which can be done on both game drives and guided walking safaris. The bonus of game drives in Katavi National Park is that you’re unlikely to come across any other humans. Walking safaris are an experience not to be missed to really get up close to the African bush and experience its sights, sounds and smells.
Fly camping is offered. This is the ultimate definition of bush camping, where normal tents (don’t expect luxury!) are set up in the bush at a temporary campsite. No fences, no flush toilets or showers. It’s living in the wild; cooking food over a fire and spending evenings chatting around the campfire, staring up at the breathtaking African night sky and listening to the nocturnal calls of wild animals.
There are a number of places of cultural and historical interest in Katavi. These include Stone and Iron Age sites and sacred sites such as the Katabi Tree, where the Wabende spirit, Katabi, lives.
