Katavi National Park
I wasn't sure about visiting this park since tsetse flies have a reputation for being nasty. In the end, I spent a whole day there. Wow, it is a very nice park with an impressive quantity of hippopotami, and with the bonus of pride of lions and many other animals.
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Camping at the entrance of the park
One of the nicest sightings is this massive quantity of hippopotami crammed into this river. Well, the word river is an overstatement since at the end of the dry season, only some pools of muddy water filled with hippo shit remains.
The hippopotamus is not the prettiest creature around, but they are nevertheless interesting. They must have a good immune system since they constantly crap in the water to relieve themselves as well as to mark their territory. Yes, their territory, except that at this time of the year, it doesn't make much difference.
Worse than their excrement is one of their buddies dead in the middle of the river. The hippos don't seem to be bothered by the sight of their own being eaten by vultures.
How many hippos in this photo?
I stopped counting after one hundred....
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Lake Katavi
Katavi is much less visited than the famous Tanzanian parks such as Serengeti. Indeed, the Serengeti gets more visitors in a day than Katavi for a whole year.
The number of tracks for game drive is relatively small and the park is known for three distinct areas: Lake Katavi, the Chada area, and the Katisunga Plain (Ikuu).
This lioness is guarding a dead buffalo that her pride has recently killed. When I arrived, she was wary of me.
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Chada area
This area was very quiet. Only animals far away in the plain were visible. However, at the picnic site, I stumbled upon two small creatures that are normally difficult to observe.
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Katisunga Plain (Ikuu area)
This area, at the heart of the park, has the greatest density of animals during the dry season. The animals converge around the few remaining waters.
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Battle of giants (Ikuu)
I hope you are not afraid of blood... These two giants confronted each other for about 10 minutes.