Katavi National Park

Discover Katavi National Park

Katavi National Park is the definition of off-the-beaten-path. Located in the remote southwestern corner of Tanzania, this vast and wild park sees fewer than 500 visitors per year, making it one of the most exclusive safari destinations on the planet. The effort required to reach Katavi is rewarded with an experience that feels like stepping back in time to an Africa before tourism existed. The park centers around the seasonal floodplains of Lake Katavi and Lake Chada, which during the dry season become crucial lifelines for wildlife. As water sources shrink, the concentration of animals becomes extraordinary — massive herds of buffalo numbering in the thousands, pods of hippo packed in the last remaining pools so densely that they can barely move, and crocodiles by the hundred buried in the mud. The predator population is healthy, with lion prides that have learned to hunt buffalo, and spotted hyena clans competing for the same prey. The landscape is raw and dramatic: miombo woodland, acacia bushland, and open grasslands stretch to the horizon, broken only by the dramatic escarpments and seasonal rivers. Walking safaris in Katavi are among the best in Africa — with virtually no other people for miles, you feel like the first explorer to set foot in this wilderness.