08/28/2026
Today's pics are from Katavi National Park!
Drs. Bridget Amulike and Glenn Johnson traveled to Tanzania this summer to initiate a new research project on the Biodiversity of Katavi National Park, the third largest national park in Tanzania. Katavi is located in the western part of the country near Lake Tanganyika and while a critical natural area rich in wildlife, it is much less visited compared to parks in the north and east of Tanzania, such as Serengeti. Our first effort is to focus on two key predators in the park, lions and African wild dogs. Both are known from the region, but little is known about their distribution and relative abundance. We installed 32 camera traps in areas near water sources (June through October is the dry season), where their ungulate prey is abundant and where lions and wild dogs have recently observed by park ecologists and rangers. Katavi is known for its huge herds of Cape buffalo and supports some of the largest concentrations of hippos in all of Africa.
We were lucky to also visit two spectacular natural areas: Serengeti National Park and the nearby Ngorogoro Conservation Area, which encompases the famous Ngorogoro Crater where Dr. Amulike conducted her research on Grey Crowned Cranes.
