Katavi National Park

Wildlife & Animals

Katavi Safaris

Expert

Philip is the author of the Bradt guidebook to Tanzania.

During the Dry season in Katavi National Park, the Katuma River is packed with hippo, while crocodile bask on the sandbanks. Huge herds of buffalo, topi and impala gather with elephant and defassa waterbuck around the drying water reserves of Lake Katavi and Lake Chada. Opportunistic lion prides are never far from the remaining water sources, waiting for their prey to come to them.

ElephantCommon

GiraffeCommon

HippoAbundant

BuffaloAbundant

ZebraOccasional

WildebeestNone

White RhinoNone

Black RhinoNone

LionCommon

LeopardOccasional

CheetahNone

HyenaOccasional

Wild DogOccasional

Wildlife Highlights

Katavi isn't particularly known for unusual animals, but it is the numbers of them that are staggering. Buffalo herds numbering thousands can be seen. Hippo burst out of the remaining puddles of the seasonal rivers at the end of the Dry season. Beautiful sable antelope can sometimes be found in the miombo woodland.

Best Time for Wildlife Viewing

Katavi is a classic Dry season park. Wildlife viewing is best from July to October, which is during the middle and end of the Dry season (the Dry season runs from May to October). Wildlife is easier to spot then because vegetation is thinner and animals gather around predictable water sources. The park is open throughout the year, but game-drive tracks become very bad in the Wet season (November to April), and most camps close for part or all of the period from November to May.