Isolated,
untrammeled and seldom visited, Katavi is a true wilderness,
providing the few intrepid souls who make it there with a thrilling
taste of Africa as it must have been a century ago.
Tanzania's third largest national park, it lies in the remote
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 localised eland, sable and roan antelopes. But
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 water birds, and they also support Tanzania’s densest
concentrations of hippo and crocodile.
It
is during the dry season, when the floodwaters retreat, that Katavi
truly comes into its own. 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
giraffe, zebra, impala and reedbuck provide easy pickings for the
numerous lion prides and spotted hyena clans whose territories
converge on the floodplains.
Katavi’s most singular wildlife spectacle is provided by its hippos.
Towards the end of the dry season, up to 200 individuals might flop
together in any riverine pool of sufficient depth. And as more
hippos gather in one place, so does male rivalry heat up – bloody
territorial fights are an everyday occurrence, with the vanquished
male forced to lurk hapless on the open plains until it gathers
sufficient confidence to mount another challenge.