Mikumi National Park
Size
3,230 square kilometres (1,247 square miles), bordering Nyerere National Park to the south
What Mikumi is known for
The open Mkata plain, elephant, hippo and baboon
Mikumi from Dar es Salaam
About 290 kilometres (180 miles) on tarmac, four to six hours by road
Best time to visit Mikumi
June to October, with September and October the high point
We recommend
One to two nights, as part of a tour through the south
Mikumi National Park lies in a bowl between mountains. In the northeast the Uluguru mountains rise, in the west the hills of Rubeho and Lumango, and between them stretches the Mkata plain. Open grassland with acacia thickets, baobabs and the borassus palm the park owes its name to, with the mountain ridges as a frame around it.
That open aspect is what gives Mikumi its character. You see a long way, and that makes spotting easy. Elephants move across the plain in family groups, giraffe stand among the acacias, and at the pools north of the main gate hippo often lie dozens together. Zebra, wildebeest, impala and buffalo graze in between, and yellow baboons are here in troops you cannot observe this well anywhere else.
Mikumi borders Nyerere National Park to the south and forms one ecosystem with it. You notice that, because the animals move between the two areas.
Mikumi is the only protected area in Tanzania with a through highway running across it. The A7 from Dar es Salaam towards Zambia cuts through the park for about fifty kilometres (31 miles), and you notice it. During a game drive you sometimes hear lorry traffic, and from some camps you can see the road. It is fair to say that, because anyone expecting complete wilderness here will be disappointed. At the same time it produces the sight travellers mention most often afterwards, an elephant family crossing the tarmac calmly while the traffic stands still.
In the dry season elephant, buffalo, giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, impala and warthog. Hippo at the pools, often many at a time. And yellow baboon and vervet monkey, so numerous here that behavioural research has been done on them for decades. For birdwatchers there are more than four hundred species, with a peak between October and April when the migrants from Europe and Asia are here. At the pools and the dam there are plenty of waders then.
The visitor section of Mikumi National Park lies northwest of the highway, and there you drive a circuit of a few tens of kilometres. The largest part of the park, southeast of the road, is not opened up for visitors. That makes it easy to take in, and it also means you have seen the accessible part well in two days. The heart is the Mkata plain, open grassland where most of the game drives happen.
North of the main gate lie the hippo pools, a fixed stop, with hippo and waterbirds. Further north lies the Mwanambogo dam, a water point that draws animals in the dry season and where it is considerably quieter than on the main circuit. In the south, around Kikoboga, are the yellow baboons the park is known for. And along the hill edges, at the Vuma Hills, you have a view over the whole plain, with miombo woodland where sable antelope and kudu live. The crowds are on the main circuit, around the pools and at the picnic sites, and above all at the weekend and in the middle of the day. The north towards the dam is almost always quieter.
In a park where many visitors drive the same circuit, the difference is in timing. Our guides are there at sunrise, when the light is low, the predators are still active and there are hardly any other vehicles. They know when it is better to head north, towards the dam, and when the main circuit is the best place to be. They also know where the game drinks in this season, because on the Mkata plain the water points steer everything. In the dry season that is a handful of places, and anyone who knows which ones does not have to search.
And they drive slowly where they should. At the highway, where animals cross, and on the plain, where the view reaches far but the animals stand in the grass. What you see here depends above all on how much time you take to look.
November and December
One night is enough for most travellers, and it is the shape we plan most often. You then have an afternoon drive and a morning drive, and those are exactly the hours when the park is at its best. Two nights give room for the quiet north and the dam, for a walking safari or a night drive, and for a morning without hurry. If you have more time, you would rather combine with Udzungwa for mountain walking, or drive on to Nyerere or Ruaha. Mikumi can be done as a day trip from Dar es Salaam and from Zanzibar, and for someone sitting on the beach who has never seen wildlife before, that is a way to take something of it in.
Inside the park there are a few lodges and tented camps, above all on the northwest side, in and around the opened circuit and on the hill edge with a view over the plain. That view is the strongest argument, because you look down over the whole open landscape. Outside the park you find simple lodges and guesthouses along the highway at the village of Mikumi, and a wider choice in Morogoro, about an hour's drive away. The range runs from budget to mid-range, with a few comfortable camps among them. If you sleep inside the park, a concession fee per person per night comes on top.
The largest park in Tanzania, with boat safaris on the Rufiji river and a landscape of lakes and channels.
Large elephant herds, baobabs and lions in strong prides, with a fraction of the visitors of the north.
Our fifteen day itinerary through the south, with Mikumi, Nyerere and Ruaha, and Zanzibar to finish.