Katavi National Park

Short Overview

The Katavi National Park offers the few visitors who make it there a taste of true wilderness with large wildlife herds such as Buffaloes, Elephants, and Hippos. Some of the attractions of Katavi National Park are Lake Katavi, the Katuma River, and the Lake Chada floodplains.

Info

  • Size: 4,471 km²
  • Location: Southwestern Tanzania
  • Best Time: The dry season. May to October
  • To Do: Walking, driving, and camping safaris
  • Known For: Tanzania’s densest hippopotamus and crocodile population

 

Details of Katavi National Park

Less well-traveled than Tanzania’s more iconic parks, Katavi National Park is a truly wild experience for those wanting to get off the beaten track.

Katavi is home to the Katuma River and the floodplains that it spawns each wet season, but it is in the dry season that the best game viewing experiences can be had like thousands of elephants, buffalo, zebras, and giraffe gather around the rapidly drying streams in search of water.

The predators – from the park’s huge number of crocodiles to leopards & lions – have a field day during the dry season, and it’s a fantastic opportunity to see the predator-prey dynamic in action.

The park’s huge numbers of the Hippopotamus are also a spectacle to behold in the dry season, as territorial men engage in bloody fights to decide who