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Eleanore Avery
US
Visited:
February 2012
Reviewed: Apr 19, 2017
Email Eleanore Avery | 65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Very remote in western part...I only stopped there on way to Mahale park. canals restrict viewing because you cannot cross canals. Lots of Hippos.
Philippe Z.
NO
Visited:
January 2011
Reviewed: Mar 16, 2017
Email Philippe Z. | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
A great place, like Ruaha, with great wildlife viewing. Actualy fantastic lions viewing in some part of it (sorry i won t say exacly where) when I visited in october 2009. We also saw hyenas, elephants, lots of giraffes, large herds of buffalos, diferent species of antelopes, crocs, birdlife etc.
Selestinus Emanuel
TZ
Visited:
October 2014
Reviewed: Mar 24, 2016
Email Selestinus Emanuel | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Isolated, untrammelled and seldom visited park
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. 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.
Andre Gilden
NL
Visited:
October 2014
Reviewed: May 2, 2015
50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Many buffalo in the park and lions which hunt on the buffalo. Nice marshes which provide water to the wildlife.
Justin
CA
Visited:
November 2014
Reviewed: Apr 28, 2015
Email Justin | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
This park is amazing!! Easily one of my favourite parks. If you think Ruaha has a bush vibe, this one trumps it. We had lions lying within feet of the car window, giraffes showing up at our door at the bandas, hundreds upon hundreds of hippos crammed into small mud pools. We saw lions taking down hippos, a beautiful leopard at close range etc. Katavi is as remote as it gets! We spent 8 hours waiting under a mango tree for a bus out of Sitalike heading towards Namanyere! This place is remote and rugged and I highly recommend it for a solid adventure.
Andrew Steiger
Visited:
November 2013
Reviewed: Dec 28, 2013
an incredible number of hippos and up close
Katavi is a wonderful Place of the World, with many Animals.
We drive in the Park in the dry Time, the Natur is then not so green, but the Animals are then watch masse. We look on the Game Drive Lions in the starting phase on the hunting, directly Elephant on the Road and masses of other Animals. The most impressiv experience was the many Hippos, the Hippos urge in the last Water in the Park.
I would return in any case again to Katavi.
Marion
GB
Visited:
September 2012
Reviewed: Nov 6, 2012
Email Marion | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Absolutely superb. Hardly anyone is there and you are completely at one with nature, it's peaceful and full of hundreds of animals!
Bob Gunderson
US
Visited:
August 2011
Reviewed: Aug 1, 2012
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Katavi is a place to consider for experienced safari goers who want a wilderness experience.
I have some difficulty recommending Katavi for a first time safari. It is better suited to a repeat visitor who might know more of what to expect from the safari experience. We were there in August and experienced lots of tsetse flies and reports of blazing heat later in the fall. However, I do not wish to imply that all was negative. In what was our third trip to Africa that included visits to nine parks we saw the largest herds of Cape Buffalo, more Hippos and more Crocodiles in Katavi than in any park we visited. We also we fortunate to see herds Roan Antelope, wonderful Lion prides
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and some fantastic birding.Much of the safari experience is dependent on the quality of the accommodations and the expertise of the guides. Chada Katavi was a first-rate camp with excellent food, hospitality and accommodations. Even if the camp Elephants were not always cooperative it was a blast to see one about 75 yards away when in the shower.
The Nomad guides were first rate. They have enormous knowledge, are pleasant and go out of there way to make the safari experience as rich as possible. The ability to go on a short walking safari was a big plus. Nomad Tanzania and Chada Katavi get the highest possible recommendations.
Alistair Tough
Visited:
August 2005
Reviewed: Jul 31, 2012
Off the beaten track, kweli
There were many highlights of our week in Katavi, including a dramatic encounter between buffaloes and lionesses (which the buffaloes won) and a wonderful sighting of bee-eaters working as an extended family (parent birds plus previous year's adolescents) collecting insects on the edege of the flood plain. Perhaps the most evocative was sitting in camp beside a camp fire and realising that a herd of elephants was quietly walking past just a few yards behind us. We stayed with Fox safaris and spent a few days at Lazy Lagoon before transferring to Katavi. They managed the transfers well and the accommodation and food was superb. There were just two other guests in their camp and only 8 visitors in the entire park whilst we were there. So this felt like a real wilderness rather than a replicated experience.
Sheikh. Ghulam Sarwar
TZ
Visited:
July 2011
Reviewed: May 14, 2012
Email Sheikh. Ghulam Sarwar | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
In my opinion, Katavi national park is not a very good park as other national park of Tanzania. Though it's very large area. Also it is very far from Dar es salaam. And the rods are not good to go there.