Tanzania Safari

August/SEPTEMBER, 2013

Katavi National Park

Our flight to Katavi wouldn’t leave until about 10:00am. We therefore were able to get up at a leisurely hour, and get well fortified before embarking on our trip to Katavi National Park. Relatively speaking, it would be a long flight. About three hours in total, although it would be broken up in the middle, when we stopped at Tabora to take on fuel.

Having the same pilot that brought us to the northern Serengeti, we took of on time (which in bush plane circles is plus or minus twenty minutes) and began our trip to the western side of Tanzania. As with our previous flight, the altitude ceiling was about 10,000 feet, and this gave us a pretty good view of the countryside, although it wasn’t all that clear because of the constant burning.

Tabora Airport was small, but did have a paved runway long enough to accommodate a heavy jet, if required. Although, we don’t expect they see many of these. The airport had all the appropriate necessities, and safety equipment, but certainly on a much reduced scale. On the outside, the buildings were well maintained, and the gardens very well tended. Unfortunately for the women, however, the same couldn’t be said for their lavatories. Although the men didn’t have any complaints, the women’s lavatory was, in their words, revolting. They actually used the mens instead, with us standing guard outside. We can only guess that the reason for the difference, is that the custodian is male, and therefore won’t go into the women’s facility.

After a brief stop of about a half hour, we all gathered back at the aircraft and waited for the okay from the pilot to re-board the plane and continue with the last leg of the trip.

Katavi Plain

The first thing to impress anyone flying into Katavi, is the massive central Katavi plain. Stretching over an area 18km by 30km, this huge flatland is almost completely dry at this time of the year, but at the height of the rainy season, becomes an enormous seasonal swamp. The plain encompasses approximately 540 square kilometers, or a little over ten percent of Katavi National Park’s 4471 square kilometers. Our safari, by comparison, covered an area of only 375 square kilometers, right in the centre of the park.

The other plain, and one of more relevance to our safari, is that which appears each year when Lake Chada dries out. Much smaller in size, but still too large to see the end of with the naked eye, it’s where our camp was located.

Chada Camp

As with Serian Camp, we were met at the airstrip by our guide and spotter, and their Toyota Land Cruiser truck.

Our trip back to the camp would take about twenty minutes because of stops along the way where the guide would point something out. There was a significant difference, however, between what we were looking at here, and what we saw in the northern Serengeti. Up there, it was green with lots of animals. Here, it was parched and straw coloured, with virtually no game for us to see. At least on this day.

Arriving at camp just after 1:00pm, we were all quite ready for lunch. It soon became clear, however, that this camp lacked the abundance that the other camps offered when it came to meals. A troubling situation to be sure, considering the extraordinary cost of this camp.

Meals were prepared in a tent about a hundred meters away from the dining tent, and conveyed there by means of an oversized tea dolly. Served buffet style, we had to help ourselves to the food on the table in the corner of the tent. This was all perfectly fine of course, until the food bowls were nearly empty, and the second to last person in the line cleaned out the bowl with no regard for the person behind them. Of course, no refilled bowls were ever forthcoming. Our lesson from that was to do the exact opposite of what good manners, and a proper upbringing, taught us. In other words, to hell with the others, always be first up to the buffet. It reminded me of summer camp, over fifty years ago. Then, however, it only cost $125 for two weeks, with room and board included!

Our tents were roomy, like the rest we had stayed in, but these were different in one very big way. The bathroom area was completely separate from the bedroom area, and required the occupants to unzip and re-zip two tent laps in order to use the facilities. If you wanted a shower, it then meant a third zipper. You couldn’t leave them unzipped while you were in the other tent, as the blasted tsetse flies would immediately invade the area. It may seem like a petty thing, to whine about something as seemingly insignificant as this, but try using the zippers at 2:00am when you have to answer the call of nature, and do so without waking your sleeping spouse. The designer of the tents, who happened to be staying at the camp while we were there, fancied herself quite the fashion and design guru. It was clear to us, however, that her time would be better spent with the seven polo ponies she bragged about owning.

THE FIRST FULL DAY IN KATAVI

In keeping with the heritage philosophy of remaining civilized despite being in the wilds of Africa, we rose at our appointed time for breakfast, and were in the guide truck, and on our way by 8:30 am. Our guide, Prosper, and his spotter, Alfred, were likable guys who seemed knowledgable about their trade. The important thing for us was that they didn’t mind stopping any time we asked them to. We’d see things that were worth learning about, and getting a picture of, so this was when having our own guide truck really paid off.

One of the more striking green trees that dotted the landscape was one they called the sausage tree. The lushness of its canopy, despite the arid landscape in which it grew, meant it must have very deep roots to gather moisture from the dwindling water table. Used as food by local inhabitants, the large pods that gave the tree it’s name could be used in a number of different ways when creating meals.

As we drove along, we would catch a glimpse here and there of animals that, to us at least, were now considered commonplace. A number of small herds of impala were alongside the road, but quickly moved away when we got near. We spotted a surprising quantity of birds, covering the gamut from birds of prey, to shorebirds.

Larger Animals

The first large animals were giraffe and a hippo. But the hippo stole the show. Moving ever so slowly in the truck, we came upon this lone hippo as it was climbing out of a small water source. As it made it to level ground, it looked back at us with his rear end pointed in our direction, and started to defecate and urinate simultaneously. While this was happening, the hippo rapidly flipped its tail from side to side, like an upside down windshield wiper. The result of this hilarious behaviour, was to fling the dung all over the place. We had heard that they do this, and have seen it in nature videos, but when seen in real life it’s both funny and disgusting at the same time.

Little did we know that in fairly short order, we would meet a group of hippos that were even more disgusting than this creature. Hard to believe, but truth can often be stranger than fiction, and there is a lot of truth to be found in the wild areas of Africa.

Katavi’s Upmarket Hippos

The largest river in the area is the Katuma. Flowing southeast from Katavi Lake into Chada Lake, it had to be crossed in order to go from one road system in the park to another. Fortunately, a two lane bridge had been constructed across the river to service the road that traveled through the park.

Below this bridge was a very large school of hippos, and the bridge served quite nicely as an observation platform. With virtually no vehicles driving by, other than the odd guide truck, we were able to park alongside the road and safely walk onto the bridge. On the downstream side, there must have been about thirty hippos that were lazing about in the river, and an adjacent pool which was connected by a small canal. These animals were all quite clean because of the relatively clean water that flowed around them. Not that we would consider the water as being clean. But for these hippos, it probably was.

On the upstream side of the bridge were several very large crocodiles, most of whom were sleeping, and a few hippos. Apparently hippos and crocodiles must get along, since two of them were sleeping side by side like they were buddies. Not all were asleep, however. Just under the bridge was a small weir that crossed the river, and on the downstream side of it was a very clever crocodile. It had figured out that if it positioned itself nose first into the weir, with its mouth open, the catish that inhabited the river would eventually wash over the weir and right into its waiting jaws. It was something that we actually witnessed while we were there.

Katavi’s Hippo Slum

Even in the animal kingdom, some get the choice properties and others don’t. On this section of the river, although mostly dried out, there was an area that was still wet and muddy. In it were dozens of dirty, and revoltingly smelly hippos.

Located right next to the main park ranger’s dormitory, these animals were relaxing in the most disgusting solution of mud and hippo dung that our noses have ever experienced. But they seemed to love it. Now you must understand that these hippos were not doing this to coat their bodies with mud in an attempt to ward of biting insects. Hippos are lucky, they excrete mucous through their skin that acts as a natural insect repellant and sun block. So they aren’t bothered by insects to the degree that other African animals are. So we figured the only reason why this group lives like this is because they just like living in deplorable conditions.

NOT THE AFTERNOON DRIVE We Expected

The morning drive was a fruitful one, with new plants, trees, birds and animals all making their way into our Katavi experience. Our afternoon drive, however, started a little late. Our guide wanted to take us to a well known bird area, but after spending almost an hour driving to the location, we were greeted by an empty landscape. No birds whatsoever. All we could do was turn around, and retrace our tracks back toward the camp.

Just before reaching the camp, in an effort to make up for the disappointment, our guide decided to take us off the road and onto Chada Plain in order to see the large Cape Buffalo herd. In the wet season, this entire plain is covered with water, and is a rich marshland. However, at this time of the year it’s a large, flat piece of very bumpy ground.

Traveling at about five kilometers and hour, it took forever to make it across the plain to where the buffalo were grazing. Not a pleasant experience considering how incredibly uncomfortable the ride was in the Toyota Land Cruiser. We made it to the buffalo just in time for a few pictures before the sun got too low, and the light too dim. We then continued across the plain toward the far side, where to our complete astonishment, we were told there was a road. A road that would take us all the way back to camp in as little as fifteen minutes. So if there’s a road, why then did we have to suffer the horrible ride all the way across the plain?

Before we could get to that road, however, we had to endure another ordeal. Our guide wasn’t able to negotiate a depression in the landscape, and managed to get our truck stuck in the mud. Our predicament wasn’t too bad at first. It we all got out and pushed on the front of the truck we probably would have freed it. But our guide wouldn’t let us do that. He instead made things much worse by pushing the gas pedal all the way to the floor and wildly spinning the tires. This had the expected result of digging the truck down so the axles were resting on the dirt. Having only a Hi-Lift jack (with no base plate), and a shovel with a broken handle as recovery gear, it was impossible to perform a self extraction. Our only hope was to call for another truck to come and pull us out of the mud. But there was one small problem. Out in the middle of the Chada Plain there was no cell service, and the battery in our guide’s two way radio was dead. We were in trouble. Darkness was only twenty minutes away, and unfortunately, we saw it long before any rescue truck.

Sitting in the intense blackness of a moonless African night, we waited in the cold for an hour and a half before we saw headlights coming from the direction of the road we were trying to reach. Someone was using a hand held search light to try and locate us. But we were in a depression that was deep enough to hide the truck, and on a plain that was thirty square kilometers in size, in the pitch black. There wasn’t much hope of being spotted. We needed to signal the rescue truck. But since our truck lacked even the basic emergency gear, it meant that we had no torch. And with our headlights pointing down into the depression, how could we signal? The horn was no good, the other truck was too far away, and our horn was below ground level. It was at this point that our hearts sank. We saw the lights of the rescue truck started to turn and go off in a diferent direction. Not a good development to be sure. It was at this moment when I remembered that Ed’s camera had an onboard flash. At my suggestion, Ed stood up as high as possible and started flashing the camera.

We got back to camp at 9:00pm, without our truck, guide or spotter. The truck and men didn’t get back to camp until 2:00am. Five hours to do what should have been a five minute recovery.

The day after… fortunately the animals came to us

The next morning we sat down with the camp manager and the princess as we called her, the woman from corporate who designed the camp and was currently visiting. They wanted to talk to us about our experience when we got back to camp the previous night, but considering what we had just been through, we suggested that they might get a more civil conversation in the morning.

We had a frank discussion with the camp management after breakfast where they learned a few things about what they did wrong, how they failed their employees by not equipping their vehicles properly, and what the internationally accepted practice is for providing aid when someone is in trouble. You see, we found out that there was a truck very close to us before the sun set, but they didn’t come to our aid because they were just starting their night drive and didn’t want to interrupt that couples evening. Needless to say, by the time we had finished with them, they had their proverbial tails well between their legs.

From that point on, we had the camp manager as our guide, and would now be using a Land Rover Defender for our guide truck. The ordeal was almost worth it just to end up with the Defender, as it was so much more comfortable than the Toyota.

The Elephants in our camp

Our game drive for this morning was now shot, having spent time doing less enjoyable things. And since we were all bagged from the night before, we didn’t much feel like a busy day anyway. But the animals must have heard, so they came to us instead. A group of five or six elephants came into the came and stayed for several hours.

At one point there was some real excitement. The ranger that was in camp was walking from the staff buildings toward the elephants with his rifle. The wind must have been blowing toward the elephants because all of a sudden there was a large trumpet from the dominant elephant and it charged the ranger. Apparently elephants don’t like the smell of guns. We’d never seen a person in uniform run so fast. He spent the rest of the time hiding, peeking out from behind the trees.

As the elephants started roaming around the camp, we pretty much had to stay inside the various tents so we didn’t appear threatening to the large animals. As it happened, we weren’t the only ones that stayed in camp this morning. So there was quite an audience for all the action going on. Several of the elephants were juveniles, and as such were a little belligerent. So anyone wanting to move from tent to tent had to have an escort.

A day in camp… Then a Planned night drive

Although we had already spent a night out in a guide truck, this time it would actually be planned. Many camps offer night drives so that nocturnal animals might be seen, and our drive would certainly do that.

Starting out an hour before sunset, we’d first set up on the edge of the plain for sundowner drinks and watch the setting sun sink behind the zebra grazing on the long grass. Just beside us was a very tall, slender palm tree, and as the light was waining pelicans came to roost in the canopy.

Darkness comes very quickly in Africa once the sun has set, so it was only a short wait until our surroundings were completely black. After that we drove slowly along with the guide looking for eyes in the night and then highlighting the animals with a spotlight. Our guide’s light was a white one, which is hard on the animals night vision. On other night drives we have done since this one, they’ve used a red spotlight so the animals aren’t blinded. It’s not as revealing as the white light, but it’s way more responsible. Many predators hunt at night, and blinding it’s prey with a white light just isn’t fair as it gives the predator an unfair advantage. The photographs below were all shot with our long distance flash attachment.

The night drive ended around 8:00 pm and we headed back to the camp for a late dinner.

The Elephants of Katavi

A park as large as Katavi can easily support a large number of elephants. So it’s rather unlikely that the various family groups would end up competing for the same resources.

Our various drives around the small area of the park that we covered presented a number of different families for us to enjoy viewing. The groups had members from the very smallest, still suckling on their mothers, to large male tuskers.

Our Trip to Paradise

On our last day in Katavi our new guide suggested we might enjoy a drive out to Paradise. It’s a wetland area far to the east of the park. It was a long drive, so we had to leave at the crack of dawn for the all day excursion.

If we had wanted to, we could have made a drive out to Paradise in the afternoon, and then camped there overnight in a small tent. But we decided against it in favour of the kings size bed in our camp quarters.

Leaving camp shortly after sunrise, we encountered a nice variety of wildlife along the forty kilometre drive. Ironically, the road out to Paradise was the same road we traveled back to the camp on after we were rescued from the blackness of the Chada Plain night.

After about three hours in the saddle, we finally made it to Paradise just in time for lunch. And while we were waiting for our guide to set up our mid-day repast, we busied ourselves with taking photographs of the local inhabitants, and ourselves as well.

The trip out to Paradise was our last excursion here in Katavi National Park, and the next morning we would head off to Mahale Mountain National Park. The final destination of our 2013 Tanzanian safari.