Hippos of Katavi

Katavi National Park is the third largest national park in Tanzania. It is very remote and less frequently visited than other Tanzanian national parks. The par...
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Katavi National Park is the third largest national park in Tanzania. It is very remote and less frequently visited than other Tanzanian national parks. The park is approximately 4,471 square kilometers (1,726 sq mi) in area. The park encompasses the Katuma River and the seasonal Lake Katavi and Lake Chada floodplains.

The number of annual visitors to the park is extremely low, just above 1,500 foreign visitors out of a total 900,000 registered in the whole Tanzania National Parks system during 2012-13.

Wildlife includes large animal herds, particularly of Cape Buffaloes, zebras, wildebeest, giraffes, and elephants, plus along the Katuma river, crocodiles and hippopotami which upon annual dry seasons results in mudholes that can be packed with hundreds of hippos.

The hippo pools of Katavi has been on my bucket list for some time. This October we finally did it on a fleeting 3 night stop over on the way to Mahale. Unfortunatly the time you can spend there is dictated by the twice a week flights, unless you drive, that operate on Mondays and Thursdays.
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