September or October, or do not bother. The whole point of Katavi is what happens when the water runs out — hundreds of hippo packed into shrinking pools, buffalo herds a thousand strong coming down to drink. Outside the late dry season it is simply a very large, very empty park.

How remote is it really?

Genuinely remote. A handful of camps, essentially no infrastructure, and you will not share a sighting. It pairs naturally with Mahale on the same flight routing.

Katavi National Park — safaris, wildlife and when to go

Katavi National Park

National park

Perhaps the most genuinely remote park in Tanzania — enormous buffalo herds, hippo crowded into shrinking pools, and almost no visitors at all.

Katavi receives a tiny fraction of the visitors the northern circuit sees, and in the late dry season it produces some of the most extreme wildlife spectacle in Africa. The Katuma River shrinks to a series of muddy pools, and hundreds of hippo pack into them shoulder to shoulder, while crocodiles dig into the banks and buffalo herds a thousand strong come down to drink.

There is very little infrastructure and only a handful of camps. You will not share a sighting. For travellers who have already done the Serengeti and want something rawer, this is where we send them.

From our guides

Go in September or October or do not bother. The whole point of Katavi is what happens when the water runs out.

Why come here

Buffalo herds in the hundreds, sometimes over a thousand
Extraordinary dry-season hippo concentrations
Almost total solitude — often fewer than a handful of vehicles in the entire park
Pairs naturally with Mahale

The wildlife

Huge buffalo herds, lion prides that hunt them, enormous hippo numbers, crocodile, elephant, giraffe, zebra, topi and roan. Leopard present but seldom seen.