BEST TIME TO VISIT KATAVI FOR A WESTERN TANZANIA SAFARI

Depending on the season, a Katavi wilderness safari can vary so much that it is hard to believe you are in the same location. From November to April, it is hot and humid but also wet in most months. Travel is challenging over flooded and marshy ground, and many camps and lodges are closed during the wettest months of February through May, except for the ones that privately cater to avid group birdwatchers, keen entomologists and determined botanists based on a special request basis.

It is more demanding to spot game which is still around, but widely scattered in the woodland, enjoying lush grazing and plenty of water in comparative safety. Afternoon and evening thunderstorms are the norm. But this is the time for superlative bird-watching in incredibly beautiful landscapes.



From November to May in between the short and long rains, resident birds are in breeding plumage, nesting and rearing their young. Colorful barbets, bee-eaters, flycatchers and other avian jewels throng the woodlands while hoary hammerkop and hornbills peck on the ground. Migratory species also visit at this time giving recorded totals of over 400 avian species altogether.

During the drier months of June to October, the animals, more visible against short, dry grass, crowd into dwindling water sources in herds of thousands, and the raw savagery of natural law limits the populations to what can be sustained in the eternal balance between predator and prey.

The dry season is hot and dusty, without the idyllic charm of the growing season, but it offers life-throbbing thrills to the less squeamish realist who knows what to expect of travel in untamed Africa. From June onwards, the waters start to recede. Temperatures are not too high as it is the end of the wet season, and insect pests such as mosquitoes and tsetse fly are less prevalent.



There is still excellent bird watching with wading and fishing species, mainly storks, fish eagles, vultures and bateleur. August to October is the most spectacular game viewing season, as marshes dry to cracked earth and the ring of wildlife closes in around delicate threads of meandering rivers where crocodiles hide in dirt-caked heaps under overhangs in the banks and hippo clamber over each other to plunge into shallow mud wallows.

Thousands of herd animals plough up the dry earth as they stampede to morning and evening water holes, most evading ambushing predators by sheer weight of numbers. Even in this potential high season, you will rarely see another human being. AfricanMecca guests to Katavi are a special breed, and few of them have experienced and become addicted to the excitement of the true rhythm of East Africa, as it used to be.

Although Katavi (view map) is rarely crowded, there are very few places to stay with limited rooming capacity and these are often booked up well in advance. Even so, lower accommodation rates prevail in the wet, when only the most determined, experienced safari travelers make the assay. Logistical flight costs, park fees, activity and transfer costs remain fixed year around.