— Tanzania

Mikumi National Park

Mikumi National Park was gazetted as a Tanzania national park in 1964 covering an area of 3230sq km thus ranks as the fourth largest national park in Tanzania. Mikumi is bordered by

Selous Game reserve

to the south,

Udzungwa Mountains

in the south east and Ulunguru Mountains in the north. the park is however part of the Tanzania national parks are less visited as compared to counterparts like Serengeti.

Wildlife in Mikumi

The park is predominantly open savannah grasslands with scattered acacia and baobab tree, Mkata river basin plains in the North West and mountains rising beyond the horizon. The flood plains attract several animals such as elephants, crocodiles, hippos, buffalos, wild dogs, jackals, kudu, wildebeest, sable and roan antelopes, monitor lizards, lions, pythons and giraffe-making it the richest part of the park that has good game viewing opportunities.

More than 300 different birds live in this park including lilac-breasted roller, yellow-throated longclaw, ground hornbill, kingfisher, oxpeckers, marabou storks and Bateleur eagle. The floodplains are excellent for birding safari when the rains come- the swampy areas attract a host of European migrants for this time of the year.

How to get there

The park is located 283 km west of Dar es Salaam. There is a tarmac road linking Mikumi to Dar es Salaam via Morogoro, a roughly 4 hours drive. There are charter flight schedules from Dar and Arusha airports with an airstrip in neighboring Selous Game reserve in the north.

Where to stay

There are a couple of luxury safari lodges (Foxes Safari Camp and Vuma Hills camp) within the park and tented camps such as Jimbiza Selous lodge and Mikumi guest house near the park gate.