The plains is cocooned from the rest of the country and the well beaten tourist track by its very remoteness, and the access road system outside the park. As such, it becomes an expensive destination for tourists, although for many its greatest attraction is the scarcity of people.

The park's main features are the watery grass plains to the north, the palm-fringed Lake Chada in the south-east, and the Katuma River. Katavi boasts Tanzania's greatest populations of both crocodile and hippopotamus.

The park is noted for its spectacular dry season concentrations of big mammals, particularly buffalo, elephant, giraffe, eland, topi and zebra, the inevitable predators such as lion, leopard and hyena, as well as the African hunting dogs. Nowhere else other than at Katavi are you likely to see the rare, honey-coloured puku antelope - it is one of the park's richest wildlife viewing rewards.

You can also see the gracious and scimitar-horned black Sable antelope as well as the related Roan antelope.

A kaleidoscope of birds (450 species) fit across the riverbanks, swamps and palm groves while flotillas of pelican cruise the lakes. 24 species of fish have been identified in Lake Rukwa. While many rivers dry up after July, some residual pools may be fed by springs. The swamp and floodplain system is at the heart of Katavi Plains National Park.

The best way to get to Katavi is to fly by charter plane, either from the Tanzania commercial capital of Dar es Salaam or the safari capital of Arusha.