Katavi has two vastly different faces.
Our dry season, which runs from June through to end October, gets more and more intense as the temperatures rise. As the season progresses, the river - life blood to so many of its animals - starts to dry up; the pools and watering holes fill up with pods of hippo almost stacking up on top of each other to try and get into the water. The savanna grass is golden, and the sunsets are dusty, the heat shimmers like a mirage over the plain. This is Katavi as raw and real as it can possibly be, and when Chada comes into its own.
The rains usually come mid-November and go through until early June. Katavi then undergoes a complete transformation. Almost as soon as the first rains hit the ground, everything goes green; long green and lush grasses sprout from what was just dry and cracked earth. The rivers flow again, the pools overflow and there is space for all. It's a birders paradise as all the migratory birds flock back. Grass as high as an elephant’s eye, but there is still so much to see. Chada closes for the main part of the rainy season.
Western Tanzania safaris
Our Western Tanzania camps bring a safari of extraordinary contrasts. Katavi is about remote, expeditionary safaris. Mahale takes you further off the map, to meet our chimpanzee cousins. Put simply, this is the pinnacle of life-changing safaris.