Visual Journey
Katavi in Frames
Africa's best-kept secret — thousands of hippos packed into shrinking pools, vast buffalo herds, and a wilderness so remote almost no one has ever seen it.
Katavi is one of Africa's last truly wild places — a remote floodplain wilderness in western Tanzania where wildlife concentrations rival anything on the continent, yet almost no tourists ever come.
As the dry season takes hold, Katavi's floodplains contract and the wildlife converges on shrinking pools and rivers in extraordinary concentrations. Thousands of hippos — sometimes thousands — crowd together in muddy pools, bellowing and jostling in one of nature's most dramatic spectacles. Enormous buffalo herds numbering in the thousands thunder across the plains, and predators — lions, leopards, wild dogs — follow in their wake.
Katavi receives fewer visitors in a year than the Serengeti receives in a single day. This is true wilderness — raw, remote, and completely unspoiled. For discerning travellers who want Africa as it was, Katavi is arguably the most exciting park on the entire continent. The journey to get here (charter flight only) is part of the adventure.
Remote western Tanzania, near the border with Zambia
July–October (dry season) for peak hippo and buffalo concentrations
Massive hippo pools, enormous buffalo herds, zero crowds, walking safaris
3–5 days to experience the full drama of the dry season
Trek through lush rainforest to encounter habituated chimpanzees, then swim in the crystal waters of Lake Tanganyika.
Explore Park
The world's smallest national park, made famous by Jane Goodall's pioneering chimp research. Intimate and extraordinary.
Explore Park
Discover all three of Tanzania's remote western gems — chimp trekking, hippo pools, and pristine Lake Tanganyika.
Explore Park