By Gabriel Mushi - Guide, Chada Katavi
Some clients, who visit Chada Katavi, go fly-camping as well whereby rather than sleeping at the base camp, you go out in the bush and fly-camp in the chosen site.
There are several spots depending on the season and time of the year. One of the spots is Chem Chem area which overlooks the Katisunga Plain, the biggest plain in the park. Since my arrival, I have done several fly-camping in different spots and the one we did at Chem Chem area was fabulous. We arrived at the spot at around 6:30 and near the spot we saw almost 400-600 Cape bull buffaloes grazing slowly while herding into the woodland and several elephants. We saw a lot of birds as well and the sundowner was spectacular.
The sizable tents that we slept in allowed us to look at the sky and enjoy stars and the sky was very clear. At the midnight we could hear lion roaring from a distance and two spotted hyena, chasing each other, went right into our camping area while making a lot of calls and startled everyone.
Our waking up call was well covered by African morning doves with their work harder familiar wildlife sound and booming sound of a Southern ground hornbill. After waking up we did a short walk in the plain and in the woodland to see who visited us during the night by examining the tracks and signs.
It is a nice experience and still looking for more.
