A male lion in Katavi
concentrations that defy belief. While visiting the park, you can count up to 100 hippos out of the water with passing numbers of thirsty elephant, buffalo, lion, hyena and various antelope. The two-metre-wide trickle of muddy, sluggish knee-deep water that the Katuma is reduced to becomes a haven for hippos. Wherever the water is belly deep, groups of up to 200 hippos flop across each other like seals at a breeding colony.
Haven for hippos These hippo concentrations comprise several different groups that would be dispersed across the saturated flood plain at other times of year. Observers will witness dramas as males battle for supremacy in the crowded pools, with bloody territorial disputes occurring practically on a daily basis. The Katuma shallows also supports herds of other animals on a scale seldom seen elsewhere in modern-day Africa. An estimated 4,000 elephants might converge on the area, together with several herds of 1,000-plus buffalo, while an abundance of giraffe, zebra, impala and reedbuck provide easy pickings for the numerous lion prides and spotted hyena clans whose territories converge on the floodplains. Also common on the flood plain are smaller herds of topi, reedbuck and defassa waterbuck, while the fringing brachystegia woodland hosts substantial populations of impala, giraffe, eland and - more elusively - sable and roan antelope, as well as leopard. This mammalian wealth is
complemented by a diversity of birds. Highlights are the prolific water birds that congregate along the rivers wattled and blacksmith plovers, yellow-billed, open-billed and saddle-billed stork and pelican are common - as well as yellowthroated sand grouse which come chuckling and gargling to drink a couple of hours after sunrise. The dazzling lilac-breasted roller and elegant grey-backed shrike perch conspicuously on open branches, while taller stands of acacia, such as those around the tented camp, are home to the gorgeous paradise flycatcher, sulphur-breasted bush-shrike and black cuckoo-shrike.
Dry season During dry season, from May to October, the vegetation is lush with higher animal concentrations. During the wet season, the internal roads are often impassable and swarms of mosquitoes and tsetse flies prohibit enjoyment.
GETTING TO KATAVI NATIONAL PARK: Katavi is too remote to be a realistic goal for a road safari within the duration of a typical vacation. Overland driving visitors can reach Katavi via Sumbawanga along a reasonable rough road that forks west from the main Lusaka-Dar es Salaam highway near the Tunduma border. Using public transport, trains run from Dar es Salaam, Mwanza and Kigoma via Tabora to Mpanda, from where plenty of light vehicles cover the 35 kilometre road to the park headquarters at Sitalike. Game-viewing vehicles are available at Sitalike for US$ 100 per day inclusive of fuel. The park covers an area of 4,471 kilometers or (1,727 sq miles). East of Lake Tanganyika. The park headquarters is located at Sitalike, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Mpanda town.
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