Katavi National Park

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Harriet Nimmo –

Visited: June

Harriet is a zoologist with more than 20 years’ experience. She has the privilege of working with the world’s top wildlife photographers and photo-guides.

2 people found this review helpful.

Cavorting hippos

Overall rating

3/5

Wildlife:

Bush Vibe:

Scenery:

Birding:

Katavi is a little visited park in the west of Tanzania. Most guests fly in – although thankfully the shockingly bad access road has now been replaced by a new Chinese-built tar road. Katavi feels wild and remote and has beautiful miombo woodlands, extensive flood plains and seasonal lakes. There are large herds of buffalo and elephants and a great variety of bird life. I ticked off palmnut vulture and bat hawk. Katavi is most famous for its huge gatherings of hippo. During the dry season, the hippo congregate in the remaining water, crammed together in the muddy channels. I have never seen so many hippo, with lots of jostling, snorting and fighting males. Best of all the hippos roll completely around, 4 stubby legs stuck in the air, as they try to cover their sun-baked backs in the remaining water. The best time to visit is the dry season, July to October. In early June we were under siege from the tsetse flies.

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