The Katavi National Park is at the heart of one of the biggest and richest wildlife areas in Tanzania, but its remoteness makes it far less visited than its popular neighbours. Only several hundred people have been recorded visiting the Katavi every year. The park offers incredibly diverse scenery, encompassing immense wetlands, roaring waterfalls and original miombo woodlands, where the sable antelopes often hide. Vital water sources attract a plethora of wildlife in the dry season when one can watch the lions, leopards and wild dogs stalking their prey, watched by patiently waiting vultures who share the trees with fish eagles, storks and vervet monkeys. Katavi National Park got its name from the Wabende tribe spirit, 'Katabi', and the story says that this spirit lives near Lake Katavi in a twin pair of trees.
In the dry season, the Kutuma River shrinks to a narrow stream, with pools that become the extremely cramped quarters of hundreds of hippos and crocodiles. In fact, it is said that Katavi is home to the highest density of hippos and the largest crocodiles in Tanzania, and the dry winter makes for excellent viewing of these wallowing animals. Katavi's vast ecosystem means that the lush floodplains attract a very large biomass and huge herds of wildlife. It is not uncommon to see herds of over 1000 buffalo at a time, along with large herds of topi and zebra, all grazing the plains during the day when they are less vulnerable to predators, while they prefer to return to the relative safety of the woodland at night. The abundance of prey means that predators are a planty. Katavi is home to lion, leopard, spotted hyena, cheetah, wild dog, wild cat, serval and caracal. There are over 400 bird species, giving it equal credit to bird-watchers too. Katavi isn't particularly known for unusual animals, but it is the numbers of them that are staggering. Buffalo herds numbering thousands can be seen. Hippo burst out of the remaining puddles of the seasonal rivers at the end of the Dry season. Beautiful sable antelope can sometimes be found in the miombo woodland.
Cape Buffalo at the Katavi National ParkKatavi National Park is mainly visited in the Dry season, which isn’t the best time for birding, though large numbers of herons, lapwings and other aquatic birds frequent the rivers at any time of year. Yellow-billed stork and saddle-billed stork are plentiful, and spectacular concentrations of black-crowned night heron can be seen at Ikuu Bridge between June and September. Raptors are well represented, with African fish eagle, bateleur and white-backed vulture being very common. Over 400 species have been recorded, and migratory birds are present from November to April. The birdlife in Katavi is good year-round, but at its best from November to April when Palearctic and intra-African migratory birds are present. This coincides with the Wet season. At this time, many resident bird species are nesting and are in breeding plumage. The problem, however, is that many roads become hard to travel after continuous rain. As a result, most camps close for part or all of the period from November to May. For wildlife viewing, July to October, which is the middle and end of the Dry season, is considerably better.
Senegal Plover at the Katavi National Park
