Set within the remote arm of the Rift Valley that terminates in the shallow, brooding expanse of Lake Rukwa, Katavi is East Africa’s best-kept game viewing secret

Wildlife
  • This one of the last places in Africa where herds of 1,000-plus buffalo remain a common sight –several such herds aggregate around the floodplains during the dry season.
  • Of the rest of the Big Five, elephants are abundant, with a population estimated at 4,000, and lions are unusually common. Leopards, by contrast, are secretive, and rhino absent altogether.
  • A singular wildlife spectacle is provided by Katavi’s hippos, with hundred-strong pods jostling for wallowing space in the dry season, frequently leading to bloody territorial fights between males.  
An abundance of giraffe, zebra, impala and reedbuck provide easy pickings for the lion prides and hyena clans whose territories converge on the floodplains, while the brachystegia woodland supports substantial but elusive populations of the localised eland, sable and roan antelopes.

Activities
  • Expertly guided game drives are conducted by the bush camps. Self-drive visitors can do their own game drives, ideally with a ranger to guide them around. The headquarters can also arrange game drives. 
  • A tamarind tree near Lake Katavi is said to be inhabited by the legendary spirit-hunter for whom the park is named – locals leave offerings here to obtain its blessing.


0 comments:

Post a Comment