This is Tanzania’s fourth-largest national park, with a landscape of baobabs, black hardwood trees and grassy plains, and the most accessible from Dar es Salaam.
With almost guaranteed year-round wildlife sightings, Mikumi makes an ideal safari destination for those without much time.
Within its 3230 sq km – set between the Uluguru Mountains to the northeast, the Rubeho Mountains to the northwest and the Lumango Mountains to the southeast – Mikumi hosts buffaloes, wildebeest, giraffes, elephants, lions, zebras, leopards, crocodiles and endangered wild dogs, and the chances are high that you’ll see a respectable sampling of these within a short time of entering the park.
Mikumi is an important educational and research centre. Among the various projects being carried out is an ongoing field study of yellow baboons, which is one of just a handful of such long-term primate studies on the continent.
To the south, Mikumi is contiguous with Selous Game Reserve.