Location: Map
Area: 4,471 sq km (1,726 sq mi)
Katavi National Park in a protected area in the Western Tanzania.
Katavi National Park covers an area of 4,471 square kilometers
(1,726 sq mi) that protect floodplain of Lake Katavi, Lake Chada and
Katuma River. Fauna of this biosphere reserve include crocodiles,
hippos, elephants, sable antelopes, giraffes, cape buffalos and many
others.
Ahh. Look at them. They might look cute, but these
are still wild animals that can and probably will kill, rip you
apart and eat you for food, defense, game or just for the hell of
it. And no humans are not the only specie that kill without purpose.
Regardless of what hippies tell you bulls, rhinos, lions and others
can attack you without warning and reason.
Most of the park is located in the Rukva Rift
Valley, which is part of the East African Rift System and runs
parallel to the Tanganyika Rift Valley. Lake Rukva in the southeast
is the lowest point of the valley. The main landscapes of the park
are the bottom of the rift valley and mountain plateaus on both
sides of it: in the west is Llyamba La Mfipa escarpment, and in the
east Mlele is an escarpment.
The bottom of the valley is a
terrace on which there are flooded meadows, seasonal lakes and
rivers. Altitude is from 820 to 960 meters. The rocky and steep
escarpment in the east is covered with many seasonal and year-round
waterfalls such as Chorangwa, Lukima and Ndido (Chorangwa, Lukima
and Ndido Falls). Western escarpment includes a large number of
mountains and steep slopes. The height of the mountains here reaches
1560 meters.
Almost all the rivers of the park flow into Lake
Rukva, which has no outflowing rivers; only in the north-west of the
park does the seasonal river Nkamba flow west to Lake Tanganyika.
The main artery of the park is the Katuma River, which feeds Lake
Katavi in the north, Lake Chad in the center of the park, as well
as the flooded meadows of Katisunga, whose area is 425 km². In
recent years, due to illegally built dams in the upper reaches, the
Kapapa and Ngolima rivers that feed Lake Chad dry out earlier than
usual, which causes great harm to the ecosystem.
West of the
park is Lake Tanganyika and the Mahale Mountains and Gombe Stream
National Parks. To the south and east of the park are Nyasa Lake
(Malawi) and Kitulo and Ruaha National Parks.