A classic slab of African wilderness, the enormous Katavi National Park and surrounding conservation areas cover some 12,500 sq km of southwestern Tanzania. It’s remote, tough territory that’s either hot and dry or waterlogged and muddy. From a tourism perspective this park is something of a last frontier. But among experienced safari-goers, Katavi, with its vast quantity of heavyweight mega-fauna and dearth of human visitors, is considered something of a park for the connoisseur.
There are only a handful of places to stay in all this sun and rain-beaten bush. Katavi Wildlife Camp (sometimes known as Foxes Camp, after the safari family who own it) fits perfectly into this wild land. Its six large tents are set among the trees with views out over the near-horizonless Katisunga Plains, where herds of buffalo over 1,000 strong can vanish into the hazy grass as if they were mere ants.
The tents themselves might lack the extravagance of some of the rather over-the-top camps in more touristed regions, but what you get here is more of a classic safari experience. Local wood features heavily in each tent’s design and decoration; standing on wooden stilts, the heavy-duty tents have polished wooden floors, bed frames made from tree trunks and wood-lined bathrooms with good hot showers. The central part of the camp consists of an old-safari style dining room where hearty meals of the traditional English kind are served, and pre-dinner drinks are taken around a sand pit fire. The whole thing is effortlessly stylish, but what we particularly liked were the large shaded terraces fronting each tent.
This is perhaps not a camp, or a park, that’s suitable for those who expect bush breakfasts and plunge pools. Instead things here are much more earthy. And frankly we like it that way. You will get hot and dust speckled. You will get bitten by tsetse flies and you almost certainly will get woken by growling creatures in the night. But in return you will get to experience an African bush that’s fast disappearing elsewhere.
Expert Review
A classic slab of African wilderness, the enormous Katavi National Park and surrounding conservation areas cover some 12,500 sq km...
A classic slab of African wilderness, the enormous Katavi National Park and surrounding conservation areas cover some 12,500 sq km of southwestern Tanzania. It’s remote, tough territory that’s either hot and dry or waterlogged and muddy. From a tourism perspective this park is something of a last frontier. But among experienced safari-goers, Katavi, with its vast quantity of heavyweight mega-fauna and dearth of human visitors, is considered something of a park for the connoisseur.
There are only a handful of places to stay in all this sun and rain-beaten bush. Katavi Wildlife Camp (sometimes known as Foxes Camp, after the safari family who own it) fits perfectly into this wild land. Its six large tents are set among the trees with views out over the near-horizonless Katisunga Plains, where herds of buffalo over 1,000 strong can vanish into the hazy grass as if they were mere ants.
The tents themselves might lack the extravagance of some of the rather over-the-top camps in more touristed regions, but what you get here is more of a classic safari experience. Local wood features heavily in each tent’s design and decoration; standing on wooden stilts, the heavy-duty tents have polished wooden floors, bed frames made from tree trunks and wood-lined bathrooms with good hot showers. The central part of the camp consists of an old-safari style dining room where hearty meals of the traditional English kind are served, and pre-dinner drinks are taken around a sand pit fire. The whole thing is effortlessly stylish, but what we particularly liked were the large shaded terraces fronting each tent.
This is perhaps not a camp, or a park, that’s suitable for those who expect bush breakfasts and plunge pools. Instead things here are much more earthy. And frankly we like it that way. You will get hot and dust speckled. You will get bitten by tsetse flies and you almost certainly will get woken by growling creatures in the night. But in return you will get to experience an African bush that’s fast disappearing elsewhere.