Luxury Katavi National Park Safaris

Katavi National Park is Tanzania’s third-largest national park and one of its most pristine wilderness areas, home to an incredible abundance of diverse wildlife. Sprawling across 4,500 square kilometres along the rift escarpment, Katavi is packed with wildlife and offers world-class game viewing.

Yet the park remains undiscovered on the main safari circuit, with fewer visitors in a year than Serengeti National Park receives in a day. However, the isolated atmosphere only adds to the experience, and adventurous travellers will relish the opportunity to observe Tanzania’s fascinating wildlife without the crowds.

Get off the beaten track to find an isolated park stretching across vast grasslands, rolling hills, lush marshland, dense forests, and winding lakes and rivers. Together with the surrounding game reserves of Rukwa, Luafi and Lukwati, the whole conservation area covers around 25,000 square kilometres.

Katavi is known for its staggering number of animals, with scores of zebra, topi and impala, and large populations of buffalo, waterbuck, hartebeest and giraffe. There are over 4,000 elephants in the greater area, and you’ll have a great chance of spotting hyena and lion. More elusive species such as cheetah, leopard and African wild dog can also be found.

During the dry season, hippos and crocodiles take centre stage, with enormous populations crowding into the receding waterholes, gathering in such large numbers that they completely fill them. Nowhere else in Africa will you see such astonishing entanglements of grunting, fighting hippos, or snapping crocodiles tunnelling caves into the riverbanks.

The classic day game drives are thrilling, and you can also venture out on night game drives to spot nocturnal creatures such as genets and civet, and guided walking safaris with an armed game scout, where you can spot grazing hippos and lurking lions in the distance.