Little has changed at Chada Katavi since the Nomad Tanzania founders arrived 20 years ago. From the air you have to look carefully to spot it, you'll find your eyes are immediately drawn to such wide open spaces. That's the promise of Katavi, total absorption into the natural world.
Chada Katavi is much the same camp that it was when it began - designed to be a stylishly simple bushcamp, small and intimate with just six East African safari tents. Each of them is spacious and comfortable with wide-open fronts giving you panoramic views of the plain and animal life that constantly comes and goes. In fact, you often don't have to leave your tent veranda to see game of all kinds. Elephant are frequent visitors, attracted to the same shady fruit trees as our guests, and vast herds of buffalo graze on the flood plain in front of camp.
Katavi is known for unbelievable game, with vast herds of buffalo roaming the plains; also elephant, lion, leopard, crocodiles and hippo. Chada Katavi offers game drives in open 4WD vehicles, night drives, fly camping under the stars, outstanding birding and viewing of big mammals, daily walking safaris.
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Rooms
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Activities and Services
Katavi from the air
Chada Plain
Relaxing at Chada Katavi
Chada Katavi
Breakfast in Katavi
Lions in Katavi
Elephant in camp
Tent at Chada Katavi
Tent at Chada Katavi
Bathroom
Giraffe in camp
Leopard
Wild space
Fly camping
Game drives in Katavi
Hippos in Katavi
Sable in Katavi
Crocodiles in Katavi
Sundowners in Katavi
Large, airy en-suite tents with a big verandah, twin or double beds with fresh linen and a pioneering style. There's a place to hang clothes, a bureau, chairs on the verandah on which to sit and enjoy the sounds and sights of the bush. Bathrooms are en-suite, and open to the canopy. Safari-style bucket showers lend a sense of adventure and help us keep our environmental footprint small in this area of scarce water. There's also an eco-flush toilet which is both convenient and uses 90% less water than a conventional toilet.
The tents are scattered among a grove of tall tamarind trees, which in turn attract monkeys, elephants and other wildlife. It's not uncommon to watch a herd of impala wonder by while you're enjoying a cup of tea on your verandah, or have an elephant walk past while you have a siesta.
Venture out for a night under the starry sky. Flycamping is a way of shedding amenities without being uncomfortable, and getting as close to nature as possible. The camp is set up by a small team, while you enjoy a guided bushwalk, arriving in time for sunset and a cold gin and tonic by the fire.
Tents are made of heavy duty netting, encasing a deep bedroll, made up with fresh sheets, cosy blankets and soft pillows, so quite comfy.
There's a safari style bucket shower and a short-drop toilet which is located a modest distance away. The camp is lit by paraffin lamps and there are torches and a scout who keeps any curious creatures at a distance.
You'll eat well. A three course dinner and good breakfast is standard (unless you're planning to walk back to camp in time for breakfast).
One night is the norm, and it's essential to pre-book if your interested in fly camping.
Property Facilities
24-hour Security, Bar, Communal Dining, Eco Friendly, Laundry Service (Complimentary), Library, Private Vehicle (Available)
Room Facilities
En-Suite, Laundry Service (Complimentary), Outside Shower, Verandah
Activities on Site
Bird Watching, Game Drives, Game Viewing, Game Walks, Night Drives, Safaris, Sleep Outs, Walks (Guided)
Set out to explore Katavi with Nomad Tanzania's expert guides. Game drives typically run in the early morning from dawn until late morning, and in the afternoon from 3:30pm to sunset. Full day game drives are also available but preferably as part of a privately guided safari as most activities are on a shared basis. Private guide and vehicle available if pre-booked and there is a supplement to be paid. Night drives are also possible from Chada Katavi and must be pre-booked.
There's walking and then there's real walking; bush walking in a good pair of boots where you want to keep going on and on. Katavi makes you feel like this, it might be something to do with the endless plains around you and vast open skies. Not to mention what you might see whilst you're out there.
With your guide, and an armed scout, along for the ride, you could find yourself watching elephants from up close marveling at how, despite their size, they can move so quietly; or be meandering along the river line seeing all the different birds around the pools, and crocs and hippos who are a big feature of Katavi life. Animals who would often take flight at the sound of a vehicle, won't even know you're there and that's what makes walking out here such an incredible experience.
Walk out from camp to your flycamp where you will spend a night out under the stars. You'll sleep in a mosquito netted tent, small but with enough room for a bedroll kitted out with soft mattress, sheets and a feather pillow. Nomad don't scrimp on the dining either; you'll sit down to a three-course candlelit meal and a glass of chilled wine. But, these are only the peripheral things, the backdrop to the main event. The whole point about flycamping is being out there at night, lying on your back looking up at the night sky through the roof of your netted tent; listening to the animal sounds, so different from those you hear during the day. Under the careful guard of your guide and armed ranger you can drift off to the bush lullaby and just take it all in.
Without sounding too dramatic, it is hard to imagine your life not being changed in even the smallest of ways after something like this.
Your Stay
4 Nights
Full Board Plus - Dinner, Bed, Breakfast, Lunch and Activities
Fast Facts
5 Star
Safari Lodge
Spoken Languages: English, Swahili
No. Rooms: 6
Special Interests: Adventure, Birding, Flora, Nature, Relaxation, Star Gazing, Wildlife
Greystoke Mahale | Mahale Mountain National Park
It's no exaggeration to say there is nowhere in the world like Greystoke Mahale. Greystoke Mahale sits on a pristine, white sandy beach overlooking the turquoise water of Lake Tanganyika, with the forested slopes of the 8000 ft Mahale Mountains rising behind.
Greystoke affects people in a way that no other place does; perhaps it's because of its remoteness, and because of the mountains rising from the beach at your backs, the wide lake with its many different moods and the feeling that you are the only ones here. With just seven wood and thatch bandas set on the edge of the forest line at the base of the mountains your days can start there, eating breakfast whilst waiting to hear news of the chimps and deciding what to do with your day. Evenings end with sundowners on the rocks of the headland, where drinks are served around the lamp-lit bar whilst the mountains, rising behind camp, disappear into the darkness.
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Life in the canopy
A-Frame banda set back in the forest
Greystoke Mahale
Time to relax and lose an afternoon
Welcome!
Boating
Iconic Greystoke from the sky
Arrive by dhow
The beach
The bar
Lunch
Big Bird Bar
Dining
Beach
Room
Romantic evenings
Room
Room
En suite bathrooms
Forest walks
Fantastic chimp guides
Chimp time!
Chimpanzees
Chimpanzees
Kayaking
Chimpanzees
Lake
Sundowners
Katumbi Village
Dinner awaits
Greystoke thatched rooms
The seven rooms at Greystoke are entirely in-keeping with the setting. When Roland Purcell established his camp here, he was conscious of the responsibility of ensuring a light footprint. Built of thatch and salvaged dhow wood, each of the open-fronted rooms is tucked into the treeline, almost invisible to the passing fishermen in their small canoes. The rooms all have verandahs and an upstairs chill-out lounge with views across the white sand to the vastness of Lake Tanganyika.
The rooms are open-fronted with great canvas drapes which can be closed in the event of a storm. The twin or double beds nestle beneath a canopied net. A dressing area leads on to an en-suite bathroom. There's running water here, with a boiler that is lit on request to preserve energy, and a flush loo. The rich foliage that gives the camp such character can be enjoyed while you are showering in privacy.
Property Facilities
24-hour Security, Bar, Battery Charging Facilities, Communal Dining, Eco Friendly, Laundry Service (Complimentary), Library
Room Facilities
Balcony / Deck, En-Suite, Laundry Service (Complimentary), Lounge Area, Mosquito Nets, Pure Cotton Linen, Shower, Verandah
Nomad share the mountains and the lake with so many animals, but it's the chimps that inspire; it's hard not to compare their daily lives, their movements, feeding, squabbling, foraging and grooming, with our own. Time spent with them is time away from everything else that is ordinary. The Greystoke guides have watched, over the years, as families have grown, alpha males have come and gone, bonds and friendships have been created and then broken, and then created again. They are not so different from us.
After tracking them, for an hour or two, maybe more, only aware of the sounds they are making ahead of you, you find them; suddenly they are everywhere. You sit quietly on the forest floor and take a deep breath, this is what it's all about. For the next hour it's as if you scarcely breathe, so wrapped up are you in watching them go about their daily life. You become aware of the subtleties of different relationships, through gesture, sound and expression. One dictating the pace, another courting favour, yet another perhaps plotting a coup. There is humour too as the young chimps fall about the floor and play remarkably human games.
It's all acted out on this natural chimpanzee stage, and witnessing it is a true privilege.
Hike the forest paths looking for birds and butterflies, as well as the other shy mammals who quietly live there. Swim in ice-cold pools up in the mountain waterfalls, take a kayak out for a dawn paddle towards the middle of the lake; drink your morning coffee there and enjoy the sunrise coming up over the mountains.
Go for sundowners on the old wooden dhow, lazily following the shoreline and stopping to fish along the way, or just relax on the warm sands of the beach with a drink in hand.
Your Stay
3 Nights
Full Board Plus - Dinner, Bed, Breakfast, Lunch and Activities
Fast Facts
5 Star
Lodge
Spoken Languages: English, Swahili
No. Rooms: 7
Special Interests: Adventure, Beach / Coastal, Birding, Fishing, Flora, Hiking, Nature, Relaxation, Star Gazing, Wildlife