Highlights
- Great for First Time Adventurers.
- A must Go Place with Family.
- Make Memories For Life Time.
Mikumi National Park near Mogogoro, Tanzania, was established in 1964. It covers an area of 3,230 km is the fourth largest in the country. The park is crossed by Tanzania’s A-7 highway. K The park borders selous Game reserve on the south, the two areas form a unique ecosystem. Two other natural areas bordering the national park are the Udzungwa Mountains and Uluguru mountains. Mulundwe Mountain is with the park, the highest of a belt of hills that run east and west through the park, connecting the Uluguru Mountains to the northeast with the Uvidunda and Udzungwa mountains to the west. Malundwe mountain consists of three peaks along a ridge running north and south. Malundwe south peak is the highest point in the park, reaching 1290 meters’ elevation.
The land scape of Mikumi is compared to that of the Serengeti. The road that crosses the park divides it into two areas with partially distinct environments. The area north west is characterized by the alluvial plain of the river basin Mkata. The vegetation of this area consists of savannah filled with acacia, baobab, tamarinds, and some rare palm. In this area, at the furthest from the road, there are spectacular rock formations of the mountains Rubeho and Uluguru. The southeast part of the park is less rich in wildlife, and not very accessible.
The Fauna includes many species characteristic of the Africa savannah. According to local guides at Mikumi, chances of seeing a lion who climbs a tree trunk is larger than in Manyara. The park contains a subspecies of giraffes that biologists consider the link between the masai giraffes and the reticulated or somali giraffe. The other animals in the park are elephants, zebras, eland, impala, Kudu, black antelopes, baboons, wildebeests and the buffaloes. At about 5 km from the north of the park, there are two artificial pools living by hippos. More than 400 different speces of birds also inhabit the park.
Mikumi belongs to the circuit of the wildlife parks of Tanzania, less visited by the international tourists and better protected from the environmental point of view. Most of the routes that cross the Mikumi proceed from the direction of the Ruaha National Park and the Selous. The recommended season for visiting the park is the dry season between May and November, warm weather and sites that are a once in a lifetime experience.
Game drives
The game drives at Mikumi National park offers the travelers an opportunity to explore and see the wildlife in their natural habitat/ setting, some of the great features to seek after in the game drive including the artificial hippo pools filled huge school of hippos swimming. The hippos pool as from time to time collect many herds of wildlife to mention elephants, giraffes, elands, zebras, hippos, and many more. With the game drives, you will encounter pride of lions and in case you are lucky you could meet them on a hunt making kills.
Bird watching
Mikumi National park has got many bird species totaling to 500 bird species. The species range from migratory birds, savanna birds, water birds and many more. Some of the local Zanzibar red bishop, yellow throated long claw, lilac breasted roller, open billed stork and many more.
Picnics
Mikumi National Park boasts spectacular views, terrains as well as site deeming it an acentric wilderness arena for having the best of picnics, some of the things to do in the picnics include meals, games and many more.
Camping
Mikumi National Park has got two camping sites that offer public camping and private camping respectively. Both camping sites off the same experience of camping regardless of the difference in managements. The camping sites remain open all year round but the best time to camp is during the dry season between the months of June and November. The private campsite is in Vuma hills also known as campsites 5 while the public campsite is at Mkata plains known as campsite 1,3.
Nature walks
Nature is another way of getting conversant with your environment as it enables you to see what your surrounding is composed mainly is in terms of features, wildlife and other environment details.
How to reach Mikumi National Park
The safaris to Mikumi usually starts from Dar es Salaam and your point of entry for the country is Julius Nyerere International Airport. In most cases, your operator will pick you up from the airport and handle all the ground operations or the domestic flights. Mikumi is just a four drive away from Dar es Salaam and can easily be visited as a weekend getaway. However, most people visit Mikumi en route to Selous or Ruaha, the more popular parks in southern Tanzania. The only scheduled flights to Mikumi are with safari Air Link which offers a daily connection to Ruaha, Selous, Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar.
In case you are driving from Ruaha, the distance is about 320km/200mi and the drive takes roughly five hours.
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