Africa’s Cosmetic Superfruits
At Katavi, we harness the remarkable strength and resilience of Africa’s most extraordinary “cosmetic superfruits” to bring you a skincare range like no other. These potent plants thrive in some of the world’s harshest climates—where the sun is relentless, and water is scarce—yet they flourish, developing unique, bioactive compounds to survive and thrive in extreme conditions.
These superfruits have evolved incredible natural abilities to protect themselves from environmental stressors, developing photo-protective compounds, powerful antioxidants, and unique phyto-chemicals. By absorbing and storing essential nutrients, these plants remain hydrated, healthy, and radiant even in the driest, sun-baked landscapes.
When we bring these superfruits to your skincare, we deliver the same powerful protection and rejuvenation to your skin. Our proprietary formulas expertly combine these extraordinary, nutrient-dense extracts to hydrate, refresh, and restore your skin’s vitality, leaving it more youthful, nourished, and glowing.
Why Choose Katavi’s Cosmetic Superfruits?
- Extreme Hydration & Protection: Drawing from nature’s most resilient plants, our products are packed with natural compounds that help to preserve moisture and protect your skin from environmental damage. These botanical wonders are specially adapted to survive and flourish in arid climates, making them perfect for your skin.
- Rich in Antioxidants: African superfruits are packed with potent antioxidants that protect the skin from oxidative stress, fighting premature aging and leaving your complexion looking fresh, firm, and radiant.
- Restorative & Rejuvenating: Whether you're dealing with dry, sun-damaged skin or simply want to enhance your skin’s natural glow, our formulations harness the rejuvenating power of these plants to restore balance and vitality to your skin.
- Sustainably Sourced: We ensure that all of our ingredients are sustainably sourced, supporting local communities and preserving the environment while offering you the highest quality skincare.
Our Superfruit Ingredients
Discover the Power of Africa’s Cosmetic Superfruits.
Baobab
Known as the “Tree of Life,” Baobab is packed with vitamin C, antioxidants, and essential fatty acids. This superfruit’s hydrating properties and skin-loving nutrients help to rejuvenate tired skin, reduce fine lines, and promote a brighter complexion.
Marula
Rich in antioxidants and fatty acids, Marula oil deeply nourishes and hydrates, protecting the skin from environmental stressors while enhancing its elasticity.
Moringa
Known for its high levels of vitamins A, C, and E, Moringa is packed with anti-aging compounds that boost collagen production, firm the skin, and restore its youthful appearance.
Kigelia
This powerful extract is renowned for its firming and toning effects, helping to tighten and lift the skin while reducing the appearance of sagging and wrinkles.
Prickly Pear
Rich in vitamin E and fatty acids, Prickly Pear helps to restore moisture balance, fight signs of aging, and promote a smooth, glowing complexion.
What Makes Katavi Different?
Katavi is more than just a skincare brand; it's a celebration of Africa's rich biodiversity and the power of its natural resources. By utilizing the most potent superfruits from the heart of Africa, we’ve created products that not only enhance your beauty but also honor the resilience of these plants and the people who harvest them. Our skincare range is designed to give your skin the nourishment and protection it deserves while staying true to our commitment to sustainability and ethical sourcing.
Experience Extraordinary Skincare
Our products offer more than hydration — they give you a chance to experience the extraordinary benefits of nature’s most resilient superfruits. With Katavi, you can rest assured that you are treating your skin to the best Africa has to offer.
Africa: A treasure-trove of botanical wealth
Over thousands of years, plants in Africa had to adapt their genetic make up to hostile, changing, and extremely harsh environmental conditions.
These conditions ranged from high temperatures with abundant rainfall to low temperatures and no rainfall, extreme and constant ultraviolet radiation, and arid conditions.
To survive, they developed natural photo-protective abilities, unique compounds, potent phyto-chemicals and antioxidants making them adept at preserving nutrients.
Using traditional African folklore to guide research, Katavi’s scientists have uncovered some of nature’s most powerful skin care ingredients from these plants, including our signature ingredient, the cosmetic superfruit, Kigelia Africana.
Numerous scientific studies have confirmed their remarkable properties. When applied topically, these same compounds of phyto-chemicals, antioxidants and nutrients have proven extremely effective at visibly rejuvenating skin.
Katavi has carefully selected a variety of these remarkable extracts. Through trial and error we found the perfect combinations that not only work together with synergy, but actually challenge each other to their highest individual performance to address all factors that contribute to environmentally influenced aging.
Katavi Botanicals is a truly unique, all-natural skin care range. Use it and you will love it—your friends will notice!
Katavi: The Power of Kigelia and African Superfruits in Natural Skincare
From Village Wisdom to Global Beauty: How Janine Halsted and Carolyn Berman Transformed Kigelia into a Skincare Revolution
Janine Halsted, a beauty industry veteran, was first introduced to the Kigelia fruit as a young child growing up in Zimbabwe. Raised by a cosmetic scientist father, her weekends were spent in and around rural villages learning about native plant species. During these trips, her father observed the locals rubbing the Kigelia fruit on their skin for health and beauty.
When Janine was a teenager, her father developed a cosmetic product using Kigelia. Pitch black with a strong earthy smell, the original cream was less than appealing. However, when Janine’s best friend, Carolyn Berman, was persuaded to use the cream for the first time, it enormously improved the look of her complexion. She was hooked and convinced Janine that they should market the product.
Janine and Carolyn soon began developing a full anti-aging skin care line based on the Kigelia fruit, adding other carefully chosen “superfruits” from Africa. They focused on plants that thrived while exposed to the relentless African equatorial sun and severely dry climate. They believed these plants must have developed extraordinary compounds to acclimatize to ongoing environmental stress. How did they remain hydrated and healthy-looking?
Made in small batches, their products initially sold in local dermatologist offices and independent health stores. Their formulas developed a strong word-of-mouth following. Over time additional products were developed to meet growing demand and formulas were updated to be more refined and eco-friendly—and smell and feel wonderful.
Deciding to expand the line’s distribution after 17 years, Janine and Carolyn sought advice from Gus Lebreton, a Zimbabwean ethno-botanist and founder of PhytoTrade, a southern African natural products trade association. With 20 years of natural resource management and business development experience, and a long-time believer in the efficacy of Kigelia, he joined the company in 2010 and encouraged a complete re-branding of its all-natural skin care collection - Katavi Skincare.
Katavi: Harnessing the Power of Nature for Ageless Skin
The result of over 27 years of work, Katavi is an all-natural anti-aging skin care collection. The range features wild-harvested, certified African oils and extracts—free of chemicals and toxins—that work to effectively ward off the visible signs of premature aging from our skins’ exposure to environmental elements.
Packaged in environmentally friendly, recyclable, airless pump bottles, Katavi’s products contain no parabens, no artificial colorants, no perfume, and no petroleum-derived ingredients. No testing is done on animals.
Naturally Good All-natural ingredients. Contain no parabens or harmful chemical toxins..
Ethically Produced No animal testing is done in the production of our products
Sustainably Sourced Our African extracts are ethically and sustainably sourced, and rural communities benefit directly from their sale.
