Katavi National Park
Katavi is Tanzania's national park in the Rukva region, founded in 1974. Almost the entire land of the park is located in the Rufta Plain of Rukva, which is part of the East African Rift System. Lake Rukva in the southeastern part is considered the lowest point of the plain. The main reliefs of the park are the bottom of the rift plain and mountain elevations along two edges from it: in the western part lies Llamba La Mfipa escarpment, in the eastern Mlele of the escarpment.
Previously, in 1911, the land of Katavi Park was a German colony and was the hunting grounds of Otto von Bismarck. After the terrain passed to the UK and until 1932 had the name "The Book of the Hand". The national park was announced only in 1974, giving territory 2253 km2, in subsequent years, the park’s land increased and currently stands at 25,000 km2. Thus, Katavi is Tanzania's third largest national park.
According to the tradition of the local Bende tribe, the spirit of Katavi lives near Lake Katavi in the trees of the twins of the Indian dates and false acacia. On behalf of the spirit, the name of the area arose.
The Katavi relief is a terrace with seasonal lakes, rivers, flooded fields located on a hill from 820 to 960 meters above sea level. On the east side, seasonal and permanent waterfalls, such as Chorangwa, Ndido, Lukima, can be used in steep and rocky escarpment. In western escarpment, you can meet mountains up to one and a half kilometers high. Almost all the rivers in Katavi Park flock in Lake Rukva. The main river in the park is Katuma, which feeds Lake Katavi, Lake Chad and flooded over an area of 425 km also play an important role for the ecosystem.2 during the rains of the Katisung meadow. Recently, illegal dams have been erected on the Kapap and Ngolim rivers, because of which these rivers dry out earlier than usual, which causes enormous damage to nature. In the western side of the park is Lake Tanganyika and the national parks of Mahale Mountains and Gombe Stream, in the south of Lake Nyasa and on the east side are the national parks of Kitulo and Ruakha.
Katavi is home to more than 50 mammals. The park has a huge number of animals: zebras - 20,000 copies, topi antelope - 17,500, buffaloes - 16,000, impals - 15,000. Also in the park there are almost 3,000 elephants, 4,000 hippos, 5,000 boar-laborators and 4,300 giraffes. With such an abundance of food, they feel free: lions, hyenas, leopards, crocodiles.
The flora of the park is represented by 226 species of trees flooded with meadows. In the lowlands of the park, grass vegetation is mainly collided, trees are settled on the highlands, and lowland is almost always flooded during the rainy season, in them the most fertile soil in the park. Mostly white acadia grows near Lake Katava, mixed forests dominate the escarps.
Nowadays, the ecological situation in the park is tense. All because farmers are changing hoes to more modern means of cultivating land, and an increasing number of livestock leads to soil degradation.
