Africa's best
kept secret. Katavi National Park
consists of a series of secret floodplains
that open up in front of you as you
arrive through their woodland fringes.
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 localized
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 waterbirds, 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. |
