Tanzania’s third-largest national park; lies in the remote area southwest of the country, within a truncated arm of the Rift Valley that terminates in the shallow, brooding expanse of Lake Rukwa.

The bulk of Katavi supports a hypnotically featureless cover of tangled Brachystegia woodland, home to substantial but elusive populations of the localized eland, sable, and roan antelopes. Nevertheless, the main focus for game viewing within the park is the Katuma River and associated floodplains such as the seasonal Lakes Katavi and Chada. During the rainy season, these lush, marshy lakes are a haven for myriad waterbirds, and they also support Tanzania’s densest concentrations of hippos and crocodiles.
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, and reedbucks provide easy pickings for the numerous lion pride and spotted hyena clans whose territories converge on the floodplains.

The Katisunga plains in the heart of the park attract large numbers of wildlife, and it is one of the few parks where visitors can catch a glimpse of both the roan and sable antelope in the same place. Other animals grazing here is zebra, hartebeest, eland, giraffe, and defassa waterbuck. Katavi is also one of the last parks that boast massive herds of buffalo; some herds easily reaching a thousand animals or more. A healthy population of roughly 3000 elephants also resides in the park. Predators such as cheetahs, hyenas, jackals, and servals are also present in the area and the resident’s feelings of pride of lions are always around looking for their next meal. Leopards also call Katavi home.

With over 400 species of birds, Katavi is a great place for birdwatchers. Large flocks of storks like saddle bills, open-billed, and spoonbills as well as African fish eagles, Bateleurs, lilac-breasted rollers, crested barbets, and paradise flycatchers are but a few on the long list of birds in Katavi.