Katavi National Park, Tanzania

24 September 2007

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After my frantic work of building the new PC I was on my way to two weeks in the south of Tanzania. First stop the classic bush camp Chada Katavi in Katavi National Park. Once getting on the plane (more about that below) I was introduced to the set of people I would spend much of the next fortnight with – Veronica and Miss Elizabeth from up Cheshire way, Edwina and David from somewhere else in the UK, and the Laughing Dentist, Dave and his wife Mary, from Saskatoon, Canada.

I had heard of Katavi from various friends in Botswana who recommended it as simply the best park in Tanzania and in general it did not disappoint. The tone was set on the way from the airfield as my driver Pendael (I had booked my own vehicle) asked if I wanted to stop by a buffalo kill that he and his previous guests had seen occur whilst on the way to the airfield that morning(!). This was my first taste of the extreme efficiency of the various (small) Katavi prides – though we did not have the great fortune to see a kill, we did see the aftermath of more than 5 successful hunts during my time there.

The over-riding memories of Katavi will be

the lions, especially the fantastic sighting of 3 quite young lion cubs at both a Waterbuck and then Hippo kill, and most especially drinking with their mother in the very early morning light.

the huge concentrations of Hippos in the remnant of the Katuma River, which during the dry season can see up to 2000 (!!) individuals congregate in the last remaining muddy water.

the largest concentration of African Fish Eagles I have ever seen, feeding on the last of the catfish in the Katuma (in fact they often stole their meals from Marabou Storks rather than fish fro themselves)

the bizarre sight of Giraffes feeding on grass rather than the abundant Mopane forest which is their typical fare

the huge herds of Topi, especially with their oh-so-cute young in tow.

Probably the most difficult thing about Katavi were the swarms of Tse-tse flies that seemed to be everywhere. In numerous places, it was often too painful to stop for more than a minute as the swarms would engulf us. Tse-tses are akin to horse flies in that they hurt when they bite and the bite lasts much longer than that of a mosquito. They also seem to be immune to any of the mosquito repellents known to man. Add to that they can carry Sleeping sickness (African trypanosomiasis). Given that the afternoons were very hot and the only way to avoid the bloody things was to spend my time in my sauna of a tent…

My travel lightning hit again at the onset of the trip as due to a combination of miscommunication between my driver and hotel and the often rather laid-back nature of Africans I was within seconds of missing my flight to Katavi. The plane was literally taxiing out to the runway when we slowly meandered into the airport, and the pilot (as I later heard) was pounding the dashboard in some kind of frustration due to my late arrival. In fact, it became clear that our pilot Benoit was by far the least friendly of all the pilots I have ever had in Africa. He had clearly been in the bush too long.

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