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Top 10 Reasons To Visit Mikumi National Park In Tanzania
The top reasons to visit Mikumi national park include, wildlife, birding, picnics, cultural visits, wild simba, game drives, nature walks, camping and mountains.
Mikumi national park is the fourth biggest national park in Tanzania and the most open park from Dar es salaam. It shares border with the biggest game reserve in Africa known as Seleous covering an area of 75,000 square kilometer, the park is situated between the lumangongo and uluguru mountains, Mikumi national park is the best option for game viewing lovers but with limited time because it is close to the biggest city.
Mikumi national park was gazetted in 1964 and named after a sindle shaped borassus palm tree, it has large herbs of nyasa blue wildebeest, with over 400 bird species and different wildlife like wild hunting dogs, impalas, buffaloes, zebras among others, this park is a paradise to photographers with a fantastic colorful and beautiful open grass land with orange and yellow spectrum throughout the day which gets your eye on.
1. Diversity of wildlife
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Mikumi national park in Tanzania is sheltering 4 of the big five land mammals with an addition of lesser wildlife. The park is home to over 400 bird species with a few endemic species including the black winged red bishop. While in the park you will land eyes on the mass herds of zebras, impalas, giraffes, wildebeests and many others, mikumi national park has got several reptile species including the fascinating Nile monitor lizard.
2. Birding
Mikumi national park harbors over 400bird species making it among the best bird destinations in Tanzania, here you get to spot birds like Zanzibar red bishop, red billed oxpecker, yellow throated long claw, lilac breasted roller, cattle egrets, African fish eagle, African spoonbill, purple crested turaco, red billed oxpecker, Zanzibar red bishop, cattle egrets, bateleur eagle, black bellied bustard among others.
3. Picnics
Mikumi national park has got picnic sites which are sweetable for families and vacations located in vuma hills and mkata plains with a beautiful view to the eye-catching flora and fauna around the area.
4. Cultural visits
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This is carried out in the communities around mikumi national park where they express their culture and norms through dances, poems, drama, traditional food, local market tours,village tours for tourists to compiment with wild tourism.
5. Wild Simba
Mikumi national park offers the closest place to view lions in the wild with a possibility of starting early in the morning from dar es salaam and ride to wild but by evening you are back to dar es salaam. Such a fascinating and easy safari.
6. Game drives and game viewing
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Mikumi national park is best destinational for game viewing, game drives done in the morning and afternoon are guided by a professional tour guides and ranger driver taking you through different trails to explorer the wild and appreciate the beautiful nature around you, the beautiful view of the sunrise, different bird species like the African grew hornbill, northern pie blabber, long tailed fiscal, African spoonbill African fish eagle among others and wild animals like, zebras, lions, impalas, giraffes among others making the park better for videography, documentary and photography the park has got a rich vegetational cover providing the best palatable trees to the elephant.
7. Nature walks
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Mikumi national park nature walks takes around 3-4hours and are guided and accompanied by armed park rangers which take you through short and long trails passing through savana grassland, miambo woodland, this activity takes you through spectacular views of different animals t a close range ,view different tree and plant species, listen to bird singing in trees, colorful butterflies, great photos with great memories which give you a lifetime experience.
8. Camping
Mikumi national park offers public camp sites which are located in the northern parts of the park giving a great opportunity to view nature, listen to lion roars, view different animals and the beautiful stars, the camp site in the public sector are name 1,3 and 5 located in vuma hills and mpaka plains.
9. Night game drives
Mikumi national park offers a great opportunity to explorer the park at night to view the nocturnal animals, the drive starts at around 8:00 after dinner in safari vehicles in the spotlight torches with armed guides here you will be able to enjoy the nightlife, stop nocturnal animals like lions, grazing hippos, hyners hunting, have a view of beautiful stars among others.
10. Mountains
Mikumi national park is situated in the middle of mountains, Uluguru, Udzugwa and Malundwe mountains the unique formation system and the scenic view of the mountain attracts more tourists, reseachers, writers and photographers. These famous Uluguru mountain is a must hike that every guest would want to try in Mikumi national park. Malundwe Mountain is the largest and the highest mountain consisting of three peaks with the highest peak found on the Southern part reaching up to 1290 meters found in the center of Mikumi national park connecting to Uluguru mountains with Udzungwa mountains and Uvidunda.
How to get to the park
The park can be accessed through road transport and its a four hour drive in a 4x4WD safari vehicle from Dar es salaam,
By air chattered flights are booked by tour operators from Dar es salaam to kikoboga airstrp then to Mikumi national park.
By railway you can access the park from Dar er salaam to man’gula and continue with road transport to the park
Accommodation
Mikumi national park is surrounded by a plenty of accommodation options ready to welcome and serve tourists with clean environment, restaurants and bars with full packed stock of both soft drinks and liquor with a welcoming staff and fulltime chefs for your best meals, some accommodation facilities have swimming pools where vitors can cool down and escape the blazing African sun, some have shops with a variety of guest’s necessities for example the mikumi adventure lodge located 150meters on the high way after leaving the park from the southern entrance, tan-swiss lodge which is 2.9kilometrs from the center, mikumi safari lodge which is also 9.2 kilometers from center
Midrange accommodation include Morio motel campsite which a 3 star hotel and 7.4 kilometers away from the park
Budget accommodation include Angalia tented camp 10,6 kilometers from the park
when to visit
the park can be visited during the dry season from June to October because the vegetation is thinner and becomes very easy to view wildlife gathering around waterholes for refreshment because the season is always cooler with temperatures between 20-25 degrees centigrade, however the northern parts of the park is accessible and can be visited all year round