Katavi is a genuine wilderness, isolated, untrammeled, and rarely visited, affording the few brave individuals who make it there with a wonderful taste of Africa as it must have been a century ago.

It is Tanzania’s third biggest national park, and it is located in the country’s extreme southwest, amid a truncated arm of the Rift Valley that ends in the shallow, gloomy expanse of Lake Rukwa.

The majority of Katavi is covered in a hypnotically featureless tangled brachystegia woods, which is home to large but elusive populations of eland, sable, and roan antelopes. The Katuma River and adjoining floodplains, such as the seasonal Lakes Katavi and Chada, are the major focus for wildlife watching inside the park. These lush, marshy lakes offer a home for a variety of waterbirds during the rainy season, and they also house Tanzania’s densest concentrations of hippo and crocodile.

Katavi truly comes into its own during the dry season, when the rivers recede. The Katuma, which has been reduced to a shallow, muddy trickle, is the only supply of drinking water for kilometers around, and the surrounding floodplains sustain incredible wildlife populations. 4,000 elephants and many herds of 1,000 or more buffalo are expected to congregate in the region, while an abundance of giraffe, zebra, impala, and reedbuck provide easy pickings for the several lion prides and spotted hyena clans whose territories intersect on the floodplains.

The hippos in Katavi create the most unique animal display. Up to 200 people can flop together in any riverine pool of suitable depth near the end of the dry season.

As more hippos congregate in one location, male competition heats up – brutal territorial clashes are commonplace, with the defeated male left to scavenge on the open plains until he has enough confidence to launch another challenge.

Katavi National Park is a national park in Tanzania’s Western region.

4,471 square kilometers (1,727 sq miles)