KATAVI NATIONAL PARK
Katavi national park is the third largest in Tanzania covering an area of 4471 square kilometers and is located in the south west region of the country.
The Katuma River and associated floodplains, marshy lakes, and brachystegia woodland are part of its habitat. It is during the dry season, when the floodwaters retreat, that Katavi truly comes into life. The Katuma, reduced to a shallow muddy trickle, forms the only source of drinking water for miles around, and the flanking floodplains support game concentrations that defy belief.
An estimated 4,000 elephants might converge on the area, together with several herds of 1,000-plus buffalo, while an abundance of giraffes, zebras, impalas, reedbucks, numerous lion prides, spotted hyena clans whose territories converge on the floodplains, Eland, sable and roan antelopes are found in substantial numbers, and its marshy lakes have Tanzania’s densest population of hippopotamus and Nile crocodile among many others.
Katavi is a great place for birdwatchers, with over 400 bird species. Large flocks of storks like saddle bills, open-billed and spoon bills as well as African fish eagles, Bateleurs, lilac breasted rollers, crested barbets and paradise flycatchers among others.