Procedimiento

Katavi National Park (herein after referred to as the Park), with an area of about 4,471km², is located in Mpanda district, south western Tanzania, in the newly established Katavi Region (Fig. 2.2). The Park is located at 6°35'-7°05'S and 30°45'-31°25' E. Katavi National Park is Tanzania’s third largest national park after Ruaha and Serengeti (TANAPA, 2002; Meyer et al., 2005; Katavi, 2008; TANAPA, 2008). Together with the neighboring game and forest reserves, it contains many different ecosystems covering an area of about 25,000 km² (Banda et al., 2007; Borgerhoff-Mulder, et al., 2007; TANAPA, 2008; Mlengeya et al., 2008). The Park is one of the richest wildlife areas in Tanzania and was first recognised and protected in 1911 by the Germans as the Bismarck Hunting Reserve. It was upgraded to Rukwa Game Reserve by the British in 1957 (KRCD, 2004; TANAPA, 2005). The area was gazetted as a National Park in 1974 (Caro, 1999a; TANAPA, 2002) with an area of 2,253km². In 1996, several hunting areas were amalgamated with Katavi and it hence attained its present size (TANAPA, 2002;

KRCD, 2004; TANAPA, 2008). The Park is named after Katabi, the legendary Chief spirit of the Wabende tribe who lived in Katavi.

Katavi encompasses a combination of ecological habitats ranging from woodlands, seasonally-inundated grasslands, riverine grassland and wetlands. Altitude ranges from 820 m a.s.l. in the valley floor to 1,560 m a.s.l on adjacent mountains of the escarpment surrounding the Park. The area is characterised mostly by alluvial soils (black cotton soils) on the plains and by red loams and red soils elsewhere (Banda et al., 2007).

The Park, being part of the extensive Katavi-Rukwa system, is renowned for its high biological richness. The ecological interest of the Park comes from a combination of factors including its size, diversity of habitats and the abundance and variety of its fauna and flora (TANAPA, 2008; Mlengeya et al., 2008). The Katavi area consists largely of Miombo (Brachystegia) dry forest habitat characterised by Acacia, Combretum,

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Commifora, Grewia, Kigelia, Pterocarpus, Brachystegia, Julbernadia, Isoberlinia and Terminalia tree species (Rodgers, 1979; Caro et al., 2005). Miombo is deciduous woodland occurring in the largely unimodal rainfall areas of East and Central Africa on old acidic sand soils (Rodgers, 1978). Some plant inventory work in the ecosystem has been conducted (Mwangulango, 2003) and plant communities described (Meyer and Mwangulango, 2004). Under the shade of woodlands, the grass species are dominated by Themeda triandra (Forsk), Pennisetum polystachion (L.), Chloris gayana (Kunth), Dactyloctenium aegyptium (L.), Digitaria brazzae (Franch.) Stapf and Panicum repens (L).

Fig. 2.2: Map of Tanzania showing location of Katavi NP and some Parks and Reserves.

Source: Katavi NP/KRCD, 2009. Key: NP = National Park, GR = Game Reserve

N

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The Katavi landscape is comprised of seasonally-flooded grassland plains interspersed with Brachystegia (Miombo) woodland on the well-drained hill sides. The major grass types on the elevated or hilly areas include species such as Aristida kelleri (Hack.), Brachiaria brizantha (A. Rich.) Stapf, Digitaria brazzae (Franch.) Stapf, Eragrostis patens (Oliv.), Melinis repens (Willd.) Zizka, Sporobolus sanguineus (Rendle), Cloris virgata (Sw.), Themeda triandra (Forssk) and Cyperus involucratus (AGM).

The major geophysical features of the Park include two seasonal lakes, Katavi in the north and Chada in the centre. The Katuma River flows across the plains connecting the lakes. Within the Park, there is an extensive network of floodplains, other rivers and wetlands. These hydrological features all drain southwards into Lake Rukwa. Seasons define much of the eco-hydrology of the Park (Meyer et al., 2005; TANAPA, 2008;

Mlengeya et al., 2008). The seasonal lakes are reduced to grasslands during the dry season swelling into shallow lakes with the onset of rains. There are some seasonal creeks, swamps and swampy wetlands which retain and supply water to the flora and fauna of the Park in the dry season. These include Paradise and Katisunga swamps.

The major grass types in the seasonal lakes are Hyparrhenia hirta (L.) Stapf, Echinochloa pyramidalis (Lam.) Hitchc. and Chase, Echinochloa crus-pavonis (Kunth) Schult, Sporobolus fimbriatus (Trin.) Nees, Sporobolus pyramidalis (Lam.) Hitchc., Themeda triandra (Forsk.), Heteropogon contortus (L.) P. Beauv. ex Roem. & Schult. , Digitaria ternata (A. Rich.) Stapf. and Pennisetum polystachion (L.) Schult. In the transition zone of the lake-floodplain-woodland, the grass layer is short (up to 30 cm) and dominated by species including Sporobolus fimbriatus, Echinochloa pyramidalis, Tribulus terrestris (L.) and Polygonum salicifolium (Willd.).

Fresh water swamps at springs and adjacent to rivers are dominated by grasses, rushes, sedges and aquatic plants including Cyperus papyrus (L.), Phragmites mauritianus (^Kunth), Leersia hexandra (Sw.), Pennisetum purpureum (Schumach.), Echinocloa crus-pavonis, Echinocloa pyramidalis, Sporobolus fimbriatus, Typha domingensis (Pers.) Steud., Pistia stratiotes (L.), Nymphaea caerulea (Sav.), Cyperus

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dives (Delile), C. articulates (L.), C. involucratus (Rottb.) and Mimosa pigra (L.). Others are Aeschynomene cristata (Vatke Var.), Neonotonia wightii (Am.) Lackey and Kotschya capitulifera (Baker) Dewit &P. A. Duvign.

Various large and small animals depend on swamp and marsh grazing during the dry season for water and grazing on palatable grasses.

2. 2 Suitability of Katavi as a hippopotamus study site

It has been reported that Katavi is among those areas that support the greatest concentrations of hippopotami in Tanzania (Caro, 1999b; TANAPA, 2002). According to aerial census data collected during the late 1980s to early 2000s in seven wildlife areas in Tanzania, including Katavi, most populations of all large herbivores such as hippopotami declined in some parts of the country (Stoner et al., 2006). The survey further suggested that despite a network of protected areas in Tanzania and the conservation commitment, some large herbivores such as hippopotami populations need more conservation attention in order to remain stable. A preliminary foot survey was conducted in Katavi in 2004 (Stoner et al., 2006; Waltert et al., 2008).

Katavi National Park is among the sites that supports one of the healthiest hippopotami populations in Tanzania and harbours about 13% of the hippopotami population in Tanzania according to 2001 aerial census (TAWIRI, 2001). The Park provides suitable habitat with water for resting during the day and grazing grounds for feeding at night. Katavi is little disturbed by human activities. However, despite these attributes, land use practices in the areas adjacent to the Park and in the upper catchment of the main river are likely to have negative impacts on the water supply.