Mikumi National Park

Overview

Mikumi is among the attractions found in the southern part of Tanzania particularly in Morogoro region. The park is located a bit far from the shores of Indian Ocean and is an area where any guest will have a guarantee sighting of wildlife.
The park shares the name called Mikumi with a nearby small village found beyond its western boarder of Dar Es Salaam to Iringa highway which traverse the park for 50km. Mikumi National Park boarders Uluguru mountains in northeast, Madzini hills in the north and Udzungwa mountains in the west.
Mikumi National Park was gazetted on 1964 of which by that time it began as a small game reserve with an area of 1070km2. In 1975 more land was added from southern and northern side into the park making a total land area of 3230km2. It is a home to variety animals, plants and bird species, game safari in this park is best done in Mkata plains situated northwest area if the park.

Wildlife

The scenery inhabits various animals including the big five and bird species.
Spotting animals in this attractive wilderness is inevitable. You will see lions, elephants, buffaloes, warthogs, zebra, impala and giraffe. It is a reliable place for sighting eland, greater kudu and a special place to see wildlife which are rarely seen in other parks. These rare animals include lichten stein’s hartebeest, blue wildebeest antelopes, African hunting dogs, and sable.
Moreover Mikumi National Park is a home to about 400 bird speciesof which some live permanently and others are migratory birds. In the southern part of Tanzania this park can be one of the best bird seeing destination. Some of the birds include ox peckers, secretary birds, black billied bustards, marabou storks, cattle egret, bateleur eagles and guinea fowls.

Uniqueness

It is a park that is located in the mid of mountains which are Uluguru, Udzungwa and Mlundwe mountains making it more scenic and attractive for tourists, researchers and photographers. Alos the presence of waterholes which are the hippo pools and mwanambogo pools visited by large herds of buffaloes and elephants make the park very special and unique.

Why visit Mikumi

Mikumi is the park that inhabits the world’s largest Antelopes, apart from that the ever changing skies and light producing glorious sunrise and sunset makes it important to explore. Moreover the park is easily accessible from the famous city of Dar Es Salaam.

How to get there

By road, Mikumi National Park is located 288km west of Dar Es Salaam via Morogoro so you can travel by car that can take about 4hrs to reach the destination. But also those form Arusha, Moshi, Dodoma and Singida can use cars to travel on the road to reach this scenery.
By Air, there are charter flights are available from Dar Es Salaam or Arusha.

What to do

Game driving, a guest will have a chance to either conduct a day game drive for viewing wildlife or night game drive which allows you to encounter nocturnal animals like civet, aardvarks, porcupines and cats.
Bird watching, it is a best place for bird lovers who propose to visit the southern part of Tanzania which inhabits about 400 bird species both permanent and migratory birds.
Walking safari, this activity is conducted mostly in the day time which is done for 3-4hrs especially to the people who are physically fit. The walking safari allows a guest to closely see up to small creatures and identify them easily.
Cultural Tour, this activity permits a guest to visit villages close to the park to share and experience about culture.

When to go

It is well known that animals living in Mikumi National Park are available all year round but the climatic changes in this area can affect the visitor’s safari. The best time to visit the park is during the dry season in the months of June to October when animals are attracted to the waterholes.