Tanzania
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Chris and Susan from Canada travelled to Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania
Hello Rob, we had a successful adventure of a lifetime. Every day brought us a new sense of amazement. Thanks to your attention to detail, everything continued to go smoothly for the entire trip. We enjoyed the differences in landscape and wildlife at each new location. We were still seeing new things on our very last day. Before we left for the Nairobi airport we added the tree hyrax to our list of sighted species and we adopted an orphaned elephant named Mbegu. We were never disappointed. All the lodges, hosts, guides, staff, accommodations and meals exceeded our expectations. Your recommendations were perfect for us. The charter flights between locations gave us new perspectives on the landscapes. It is impossible to choose one favourite moment of the trip. Highlights included the entire Greystoke Mahale experience, the emotions we felt as we watched the Silverback with his family at Virunga, Lewa House with our hosts Sophie and Callum (and my new favourite animal, the baby white rhino), camping under the full moon and stars at the water hole in Laikipia with the leopard visiting at night, tenting with the hippos serenading us at Ngare each morning and a visit from a genet while we spent a night in the treehouse at Ngare. We can’t thank you enough for having made an itinerary that has given us so many cherished memories.
Tanzania
Regions
Katavi National Park
Located in the south-western part of the country and part of the Lake Rukwa ecosystem, Katavi is an extremely difficult park to get to and is thus seldom visited. The park covers some 4470 sq. kms and is the third largest park in Tanzania. Dominated by the seasonal floodplains of the Kapapa and Katuma rivers, and the seasonal lakes of Chada and Katavi, the dry season of June to October is when this park comes into its own. At this time, the receding waters force herds of buffalo a thousand strong to gather, and hippo pods of over 200 to cram into diminishing pools. Crocodile pack themselves into river banks as if on a supermarket shelf, and large numbers of elephant roam with herds of zebra and impala in search of water. In the woodland areas, roan and sable antelope, kudu, and eland are found. Lion, wild dog and leopard ensure that only the fittest survive.
During the wet season, the park transforms itself into a flowering wetland paradise, attracting vast numbers of migratory birds. There is a limited road network and lots of tsetse fly – Katavi is really a park for the hardened safari traveller.