DISCOVERING CHADA KATAVI
Intrepid explorers Roland and Zoe Purcell discovered the primeval wilderness of Katavi in the 1980s when they were traveling around east Africa searching for the meaning of life. They had already found it on a white beach on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, and had created the barefoot fantasy chimpanzee camp of Greystoke Mahale. One day, when flying low over an endless stretch of wilderness, they spotted a seemingly endless herd of buffalo, and landed their plane nearby. They set up camp for the night on the edge of the great Chada plain, and from there they ventured out into this unknown landscape.
As they sat and contemplated their surroundings they realised they had stumbled upon a hidden paradise of game: hippos in their hundreds, not just in the rivers, but grazing on the banks in herds. The crocodiles were more circumspect, but so numerous that they couldn't easily hide. Elephants headed to water morning, noon and evening. And ranging across the open spaces were the largest herds of wild cape buffalo they had ever seen, shadowed by lion, leopard and hyena.
Katavi National Park still has that almost mythical status, and Chada Katavi sits right in its midst.