In the center of Katavi National Park lies Katuma Bush Lodge, offering an exciting bush experience with breathtaking views over the vast plains of Katisunga.
The name “Katavi” immortalizes the legendary hunter Katabi, whose spirit is believed to occupy a local tamarind tree now covered in offerings from villagers. Home to the Tanzania’s largest crocodile and hippo populations, Katavi National Park is the third largest yet least visited park in Tanzania.
Mbali Mbali has untapped this national secret and created a highly exclusive experience at the heart of the park. Katuma Bush Lodge is ideal for the traveler looking for a truly remote experience away from regular tourist routes. All eleven rooms were constructed for exclusivity, with complete furnishings including writing desks, fine linen, and en suite facilities. Designed specifically for subtlety, the lodge is well frequented by wildlife that makes for spectacular viewing. The main deck houses a swimming pool, lounge and dining facilities to complement the breathtaking views of the Katisunga Plains.
The Sable Suite is our newest addition to the Mbali Mbali Lodges and Camps properties. This completely self-contained facility offers a private safari experience.
In this park, you will find animals curious and unfamiliar to human contact. The flotillas of pelican are a special sight. Game drives are offered twice a day with an optional night game drive.
The name ‘Katavi’ immortalizes the legendary hunter, ‘Katabi’, whose spirit is believed to possess a local tamarind tree tinged with offerings from locals begging his blessings.
Tanzania's third largest national park - isolated, untrammelled and seldom visited, Katavi is a true wilderness, providing the few visitors who make it there with a thrilling taste of Africa as it must have been a century ago.
The park’s main geographical features are the wetland grass plains to the north and the palm-fringed Lake Chada to the south-east, but the main focus for game viewing within the park is the Katuma River. During the rainy season, these lush, marshy lakes are a haven for myriad waterbirds, and they also support Tanzania’s densest concentrations of hippo and crocodile.
It is during the dry season, when the floodwaters retreat, that Katavi truly comes into its own. The Katuma, reduced to a shallow, muddy trickle, forms the only source of drinking water for miles around, and the flanking floodplains support game concentrations that defy belief.
An estimated 4,000 elephants might converge on the area, together with several herds of 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.
Katavi’s most singular wildlife spectacle is provided by its hippos - towards the end of the dry season, up to 200 individuals might flop together in any riverine pool of sufficient depth. And as more hippos gather in one place, male rivalry heats up – bloody territorial fights are an everyday occurrence, with the vanquished male forced to lurk hapless on the open plains until it gathers sufficient confidence to mount another challenge.
