Katavi National Park

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A remote park, during the dry season Katavi National Park is home to large herds of wildebeest, giraffes, elephants and zebras.

The Katuma River runs through the park and Lakes Katavi and Chada flood across the plains offering an array of habitats for the parks wildlife.

Because of the parks remoteness, it is more challenging to access so attracts less visitors, with only a few permanent campgrounds.

Hidden gems in Katavi National Park

Katavi National Park

Best for crowd-free safaris

Heather Richardson

Place

Katavi is one of Tanzania’s largest national parks but it attracts a fraction of the visitors, and feels very distant from, the likes of the Serengeti, Ngorongoro or Nyerere. And with just a handful of small camps scattered around the park, there are few other vehicles with which to contend. Indeed, it is estimated that Katavi attracts fewer visitors in an entire year than the Serengeti might get on any given day. In the dry season, Katavi offers great wildlife spotting opportunities. Buffalo herds here often comprise more than 1,000 individuals, and mind-boggling numbers of hippo can be seen concentrated in a few small pools towards the end of the dry season. Other wildlife includes elephants, lions and large herds of plains game (topi, giraffe, zebra and impala).

Katavi National Park

Chada Katavi

Philip Briggs

Accommodation

Best safari camp for: Classic bush feel When it comes to that classic bush feel, few safari camps can match Chada. Set in remote and little visited Katavi National Park, this low-footprint camp comprises just six standing tents scattered in a tall acacia glade overlooking a vast floodplain alive with buffalo, hippo and other wildlife. The tents are very spacious, but simply decorated, with old-school bucket showers and eco-toilets. Chada really comes alive at night: I’ve had elephants nibbling on fallen acacia pods all around my tent here, and almost invariably heard hyenas whooping and lions grunt-roaring across the floodplain.

Katavi National Park

Katavi – Tanzania's hidden gem

Heather Richardson

Place

The third largest national park in Tanzania, but with a fraction of the visitors, Katavi feels very distant from the likes of the Serengeti. Indeed, it is estimated that Katavi gets as many visitors in an entire year as the Serengeti draws per day. In the dry season, there are great wildlife spotting opportunities, with big herds of buffalos, lions, elephants and lots of plains game (topis, zebras and impalas). With just a handful of small camps in the park and in the adjoining game reserves of Rukwa, Luafi and Lukwati, there will be few other vehicles with which to contend.

Best for crowd-free safaris

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Chada Katavi

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Katavi National Park travel guides

Article

Decolonising African travel—and travel writing

Mazuba Kapambwe

Travel writing in Africa has always been an overwhelmingly white affair. Early accounts from 19th century explorers like Henry Morton Stanley and fiction writers like Joseph Conrad depicted Africa as uncivilised, mysterious and barbaric, reflecting the racist attitudes that underpinned European empire building.

Guide

The best safaris in Tanzania

Philip Briggs

Tanzania's big-ticket park is the 12,000-square-mile Serengeti, home to the great wildebeest migration and a healthy population of big cats: lions, leopards and cheetahs. During peak season— July and August—when the famous wildebeest river crossings coincide with northern hemisphere summer holidays, the park can be very busy.