Katavi Safari Extension

A Katavi National Park safari is a safari for the connoisseur. 

At the end of your trek/walk, you are transferred by road to your hotel (generally the Impala Hotel) in Arusha for a very welcome hot shower, and to enjoy a relaxing overnight stay including dinner and breakfast.  You will be collected from your hotel the next morning and taken to Arusha airport for your flight.  Flights from Arusha currently only operate on a monday or thursday and are the most cost effective way of travelling to the far west of the country.  Nevertheless, the flight costs are relatively high and tend to make Katavi an expensive, but very select, wildlife destination.

Katavi National Park is very remote and it will take 3-4 hours by light aircraft, subject to the routing of your particular flight.  Our standard extension is for either 4 or 5 days (spending 3 or 4 nights respectively in the park), its length being determined by when your trek ends relative to the restricted flight schedule, and includes transfer to and cost of Arusha hotel on half board basis; all travel, food, most drinks, accommodation, national park fees and camp activities (generally two per day) as detailed below (except fly camping - see below); return flight to Kilimanjaro airport.

Katavi is pure isolated, untouched wilderness and its remoteness ensures this.  It is Tanzania's third largest park at 4,500 sq kms, but only averages around 500 visitors a year, compared to the Serengeti with around 120,000.  The park comprises two huge savannah plains, surrounded by varied woodlands.  The wildlife concentrations are at their greatest during the dry season, when thousands of plains game gather, including zebra, topi and impala, together with significant numbers of giraffe, hartebeest and waterbuck.  The much less common roan antelope is also found here.  In addition, large numbers of elephant and buffalo live here.  Amongst the predators, lion and spotted hyena are frequently seen, leopard occasionally, and wild dog rarely.

In the dry season, two main rivers provide the only source of water for miles, and cause a steady procession of plains game filing down to drink.  Hundreds of hippos gather to share the waterholes and their concentrations become greater as the waterholes gradually shrink.  Large numbers of crocodiles survive the heat of the dry season by taking shelter in holes in the dried-up riverbank.  There is abundant birdlife with storks, spoonbills, cranes and pelicans near the water, a wide variety of raptors, and diverse species in the woodlands and plains.

A Katavi National Park safari will most definitely not disappoint.  Katavi is a wonderful park, and must rank as one of the best in Africa, offering brilliant game viewing and a feeling of having the place to yourself!

There are only two small, permanent safari camps in the park.  Chada camp is located in a lovely woodland position on the edge of the Chada Plain, has six large safari tents, each with large beds, natural fabrics and matting, and a veranda, and all are well spaced within the open acacia woodland.  Each bedroom tent has its own separate, private bathroom tent right next to it, with a long drop toilet and a bucket shower, where you can enjoy a hot shower under the stars in complete privacy.  The camp has a tented dining and bar area, and a campfire for drinks before and after dinner. Activities here focus around the wildlife, and all are included within the price, as well as all meals.  Game drives are in 4WD vehicles and led by knowledgeable guides; some are half-day and include 'sun upper' or 'sun downer' stops in the bush, while others are for the whole day including a bush picnic lunch.  Other activities, often combined, include walking safaris
(always accompanied by an armed game scout) and fly camping.

Fly camping involves staying in a temporary bush camp, set up for you by a small team of staff, sleeping in a two-person, mosquito-net dome tent on a comfortable mattress, open-air bush dining, and bucket shower and long drop toilet facilities.  Fly camping is a great experience; it does carry a supplement, and is limited to a maximum of two nights for a minimum of two people.

Katavi Wilderness camp is also situated on the edge of a vast plain, but is smaller than Chada having just three large tents.  The tents are built on raised wooden platforms, have en-suite facilities, and large, shady verandas.  Activities are broadly the same as Chada.

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