Explore Destination
Katavi National Park
Tanzania
About This Destination
Why visit Katavi National Park
Katavi National Park, in remote western Tanzania, is one of the last truly wild safari areas in Africa. Covering around 4,500 square kilometres of floodplain, palm-fringed lakes, rivers and miombo woodland, it receives very few visitors, and on many game drives you will not see another vehicle.
The park is at its most dramatic in the dry season. As the Katuma River and the seasonal lakes shrink, huge herds of buffalo — sometimes more than a thousand strong — gather on the plains, hundreds of hippos crowd into the remaining pools and channels, and crocodiles wait along the muddy banks. Lion and spotted hyena follow the buffalo, and leopard, elephant, giraffe, zebra and many antelope are also present. Katavi is about patient, unhurried game viewing and watching behaviour unfold, rather than ticking off species.
When to go
The best time is the dry season, from June to October, when wildlife concentrates around the last water. Most camps close during the rains, from around December to April.
Katavi is reached by light aircraft, often on scheduled flights that also serve Mahale, and the two parks together make an exceptional western Tanzania journey combining big-game wilderness with chimpanzee trekking and lake scenery. It suits experienced safari travellers looking for something truly remote. Ask us to plan a western Tanzania safari.