AUTHENTIC SAFARIS & PERSONALIZED TOURS IN KATAVI WITH AFRICANMECCA

Foremost among Katavi tour adventures is the game viewing drive. Whether you are photo stalking for a chestnut coated sable in the miombo thickets, on the lookout for rare birds or hoping to see a cheetah bring down a duiker, you need the services of an experienced and an AfricanMecca approved local Katavi guide who knows exactly where to trail, look and spot unique and maximal wildlife viewing opportunities, and how to choose his strategic location and place his custom 4x4 vehicle exactly in the best line for the kind of shots that draw appreciative oohs and aahs from audiences at home.

For safety in the open-sided vehicle with its tiered seating, you are protected by an overhead awning. Your expert guide is in 2-way contact with the home base and carries refreshments and accompaniments to keep you hydrated and partly filled until your next meal.



In the wet, you may need to get out and push, but that is all part of the fun in this isolated venue where you learn to read the signals of the bush coached by your guide and then rely on yourself, trusting your own intuition. This is the Tanzanian bush 101 lesson of a safari walk, interpreting the sights, sounds and odors of the wild as you quietly stroll among the amazing, diverse denizens of mud flats, wallows and forest glades.

Your guide will provide advice on various tactics to avoid attention from various “wild” fauna such as walking against the wind when approached by an elephant, or not running away from a sniffing buffalo or elephant as they will outrun you, or walk in a single file and avoid wearing bright colored clothing on any safari walk. Thus, walking is not for the fainthearted!



As you watch, a fierce mongoose may dart up behind a snake to fix needle-like teeth in the back of his head, shake him sharply and drag his lifeless body away to feed a baby brood. On an evening game drive, you may spotlight a pangolin, rolling into a scaly ball, pretending to be a stone, or a green-eyed leopard with her kill.

For a less active Katavi safari, recline on your own verandah, seeing possibly more diverse game on the plains than you would in any other camp verandah in other parks in East Africa. The great advantage of Katavi is the range of permitted options. You can emulate the first explorers, striding across the veldt in sturdy boots, packing your dome fly tent, in company with an armed ranger and a guide, submerging yourself in the ambience of history in an area that has seen ivory and slave traders, gold miners and simple stone and iron age hunter-gatherers placating their heroes, like Katabi, with gifts left beneath ancient spirit trees, after which the park name derives from.

Under your fly tent, relaxing into sleep, look up through the net as that is the only thing between you and the natural world, imagining the yesteryear generations who have dreamt under the same moon and stars (read more on where to stay in Katavi).