Katavi national park

is an incredibly remote location, said to have the highest biodensity of any reserve in Africa.

It is centred around a large swampy grassland into which game migrates from a much larger surrounding hinterland. Game-viewing here can be nothing short of awesome, especially the huge herds of buffalo and amazing numbers of hippo.

Katavi is one of the holy grails of African travel, a place of almost legendary status. Until the introduction of a scheduled light aircraft service into the reserve in 2004, this place could only be reached by shockingly expensive air charter or by means of a very tough three or four day road journey.

These days Katavi is most commonly visited as a seven night combination with the equally fabulous Mahale Mountains, connected by shared charter to Serengeti to the north and Ruaha in the south.

The original and best place to stay is the exceptional Chada Camp, with Katavi Wildlife Camp and Katuma Camp representing good slightly lower cost options.