Katavi national park is the third largest National Park in Tanzania. It is located on the far west of the country and is a bit tricky to access and costly. In this park there are abundant of game and is surrounded by woodland and knee high golden glass.
The park usually comes to life during the dry season, the plains fill with thousands of zebra, topi and impala. Hartebeest, giraffe, and Defassa waterbuck are also very common, there’s a large population of resident elephants, and some impressive herds of buffalo. Katavi is a great park for watching lion-buffalo interactions. Spotted hyena are frequently seen, whilst leopard appear on the woodland fringes, but are more elusive. Wild dog do live here, but tend to stick to the escarpment and are rarely seen on the plains. During the dry season the Katuma and the Kappa River the only ones that are dry and due to this a lot of animals from miles flood around the area in order to access water.
The diversity of birdlife in this park is spectacular; it holds large flocks of open-billed and saddlebilled storks, spoonbills, crested cranes and pink-backed pelicans. Raptors are plentiful whilst the woodlands of the national park are home to species as diverse as African golden orioles, paradise fly-catchers and pennant-winged nightjars.
The most efficient to reach the place is through charter flights from Dar or Arusha. The tourist can also have a tough but spectacular day’s drive from Mbeya (550 km/340 miles) or in the dry season only from Kigoma (390 km/240 miles).
There are two seasonal luxury tented camps overlooking Lake Chad.
