Tanzania has many tourist destinations, Mikumi is one of the most popular of Tanzania’s National Parks. Mikumi National Park is also the most accessible from the beautiful city of Dar-es-Salaam. With almost guaranteed wildlife sightings, it makes an ideal safari destination for those without much time.
Since the completion of the paved road connecting the park gate with Dar-es-Salaam, Mikumi National Park has been slated to become a hotspot for tourism in Tanzania. Located between the Uluguru Mountains and the Lumango range, Mikumi is the fourth largest national park in Tanzania and only a few hour’s drive from Tanzania’s largest city. The park has a wide variety of wildlife that can be easily spotted and also well acclimatized to game viewing. Its proximity to Dar-es-Salaam and the amount of wildlife that live within its borders makes Mikumi National Park a popular option for weekend visitors from the city, or for business visitors who don’t have to spend a long time on an extended safari itinerary. Mikumi National Park is the best place for tourists wishing to see the BIG FIVE including the Cheetah, Lion, Elephant, Buffalo, and Rhino and. The park has also the good Hippo pools which provide close access to the mud-loving beasts, and bird-watching along the waterways is particularly rewarding.
The Mikumi National Park connects other destinations such as Udzungwa National Park and the Selous Game Reserve, all these destinations are the best for holidaymakers. Mikumi National Park forming the northern border of Africa’s biggest game reserve the Selous and is transected by the surfaced road between Dar-es-Salaam and Iringa. It is thus the most accessible part of a 75,000 square kilometers (47,000 square miles) tract of wilderness that stretches east almost as far as the Indian Ocean. The open horizons and abundant wildlife of the Mkata Floodplain, the popular centerpiece of Mikumi, draw frequent comparisons to the more famous Serengeti Plains.
Lions survey their grassy kingdom – and the zebra, wildebeest, impala, and buffalo herds that migrate across it – from the flattened tops of termite mounds, or sometimes during the rains, from perches high in the trees. Giraffes forage in the isolated acacia stands that fringe the Mkata River, islets of shade favored also by Mikumi’s elephants. Crisscrossed by a good circuit of game-viewing roads, the Mkata Floodplain is perhaps the most reliable place in Tanzania for sightings of the powerful eland, the world’s largest antelope. The equally impressive greater kudu and sable antelope haunt the miombo-covered foothills of the mountains that rise from the park’s borders.
There are more than 400 bird species in the park, with such colorful common residents as the lilac-breasted roller, yellow-throated longclaw, and bateleur eagle joined by a host of European migrants during the rainy season. Hippos are the star attraction of the pair of pools situated 5km north of the main entrance gate, supported by an ever-changing cast of water-birds. The park is accessible all year round.