Mbali Mbali Katavi Lodge
Permanent safari tents · Central Katavi, overlooking the Katisunga plains · Mbali Mbali Lodges & Camps
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High-end
Inside the park
Safari company
Formerly Katuma Bush Lodge, and still listed under that name on many aggregator sites as if it were a separate camp. It is one lodge, not two: Mbali Mbali confirmed that to us in writing on 2 September 2026. This is Katavi's most accessible mainstream lodge: permanent tents above the Katisunga plains, a proper main mess, and the option of night game drives at the official TANAPA rate. The main guest area was rebuilt to remove the swimming pool and add new lounge and dining space, with new thatch, decks and room furnishings, and some new family room configurations.
Why you'd pick it
- Katuma Bush Lodge and this camp are the same place, confirmed by the operator
- The most conventional lodge product in Katavi, with 10 tents
- Twice-daily game drives plus optional official night drives
- Pelican flotillas on the seasonal lakes in front of the concession
What's here
- Restaurant
- Family rooms
- Laundry
Arranged from the lodge:
- Game drives
- Boat trips
- Night drives
- Chimpanzee treks
Read from Mbali Mbali Katavi Lodge's own website in July 2026. Anything not listed we could not confirm, which is not the same as it being absent.
What the park charges on top
The rate above buys you a bed. Katavi National Park charges its own entry fee for every day you are inside. Here is what that adds up to.
- Park entry$30 plus 18% VAT, charged per 24 hours.
- $35.4per person, per day
- Vehicle$40 plus VAT for a foreign-registered vehicle; a Tanzanian-registered one is about $9.
- $47.2per vehicle, per day
Three nights means three days inside, so two adults sharing one vehicle pay $354 in park fees before anyone pays for a bed.
The full fee schedule for Katavi National ParkRates
Roughly $500–690 pppn. Sold mainly inside Katavi and Mahale fly-in packages; standalone nightly rates are indicative only and not published by the lodge. Confirm directly.
What the rate covers is not confirmed. We do not know yet whether meals, drinks and activities are included, so read this as the bed only.
Every figure on this page is in US dollars.
Indicative 2026/27 rates per person per night sharing, gathered July 2026 from operators' own sites and published trade rate sheets. Katavi camps rarely publish prices directly, so always confirm with the lodge. Watch whether a rate includes the TANAPA fees: conservation fee plus concession fee adds about $70 per person per night incl. VAT at a lodge inside the park.