The “Miombo” vegetation that engulfs majority of the Mikumi National Park allows for a variety of flora and fauna.
Description
If you are looking for a landscape similar to the illustrious Serengeti Plains, come to the Mkata Floodplains in the Mikumi National Park where you will find a bevy of wildlife in an exotic panorama. Upon the rising of the sun, dense fog covers the grasslands. As the sunlight bursts through, zebras can be seen on the hunt in the early morning hours like so many predators.
Adjacent to Africa’s largest game reserve, Selous, to the north, the Mikumi National Park can be accessed by the surface roads between Dar es Salaam and Iringa. This 75,000 square kilometers (47,000 square miles) park nearly runs to the Indian Ocean to the east.
In addition to zebras, there are wildebeests, impalas, buffalos, giraffes, elephants, and the “king of the jungle”, lions, who reign over the savannah. During the rainy season, you can see many of these animals in herd as they migrate from flat lowlands to the heightened posts by the trees. Giraffes can be found eating in the acacia trees along the banks of the Mkata River where elephants seek them for their shade.
In order to get a good look at the world’s biggest antelope, the eland, head over to the Mkata Floodplains from the game viewing roads. This is the most reliable location to watch elands in Tanzania, but it also offers sightings of kudu and sable antelope who populate the “miombo” covered hillsides along the limits of the park.
From lilac-breasted roller to the yellow-throated longclaw to the bateleur eagle, the Mikumi National Park boasts over 400 bird species as residents which does not include the numerous European inhabitants who fly in for the rainy season. In the two pools located just 5 kilometers from the northern main entrance gate, you will observe the hippopotamuses surrounded by a variety of water birds.
About Mikumi National Park
- Size: 3,230 sq km (1,250 sq miles), it's on of the largest park in Tanzania.
- Location: 283 km (175 miles) West of Dar es Salaam, this park can be visited with Selous, Ruaha and Udzungwa national parks.
When to go
All the year.
What to do
- Walking safari.
Wildlife
- Lion, zebra, wildebeest, buffalo, giraffe, leopard, impala, eland, hippo, elephant, crocs, birds and many others.
