Katavi National Park has the vast grassy expanse at the heart of the parks to visit. The small rivers and the large swamps support huge population of hippos and crocodiles within the Park. Katavi National Park has more than 400 species of birds.

This park comes to life in the dry season, when the floodplains dry up and elephants, hippos, lions, Zebras, giraffes, elands, topis and many more animals gather at the remaining water in the park.

The hippos in the park are standout, around thousands of hippos tumble together in a single muddy pool at the end of dry season. Katavi is also home for its largest remaining buffalo herds in Africa and it’s not unusual to see over a thousand of these steroid-fueled bovines at one time.

Activities to do in Katavi National park :

Game drives : The Katavi National Park offers variety of game drives with a tailor made safari.

• Early Morning Game Drives : An early morning game drive starts just before dawn at around 6:00 AM and normally finishes by 8:30 AM when you return for breakfast.

• Morning Game Drive : This starts usually after breakfast at around 7:30 AM and finishes in time for lunch around 12:30.

• Late Morning Game Drive : A late morning game drive is usually done in tandem with an early morning game drive and starts between 10 and 11 AM, return for lunch around 12:30.

• Afternoon Game Drive : An afternoon game drive usually starts around 4:00 PM, returning before dark between 6 to 6:30 PM

• En-route Game Drive : It takes place during the morning or late afternoon and as the name suggests, is performed en-route to a lodge or camp.

Why go :

Outstanding dry season wildlife watching. It has a rugged and remote wilderness ambience.

When to go :

August through October is best for seeing large herd of wildlife. From February to May the katavi national park is very wet, but it’s the good time for bird watching.

How to get to Katavi National Park :

Charter flights from Dar es saalam or Arusha.

You can drive from Mneya which is 550km or Kigoma which is 390kms.