Mikumi Safari Holiday Guide – Scenic National Park On The Southern Circuit
Mikumi National Park joins onto the northern border of Africa’s biggest game reserve – the Selous. It is crossed by the main road between Dar es Salaam and Iringa making it the most accessible part of a 75,000 square kilometre tract of wilderness that stretches east almost as far as the Indian Ocean. The Park covers an area of 3,230 sq km, the fourth-largest park in Tanzania, and part of a much larger ecosystem centred on the uniquely vast Selous Game Reserve.
The park has 4 major and distinct vegetation zones: miombo woodland from southern Africa, arid bushland from the north, the coastal zone to the east and the mountains of Uluguru and Ruhumero to the north and west making a unique ecotonal area. The animals and birds species are also different in each of these habitat types.
Mikumi National Park was first gazetted in 1964 with additions made to the north and south in 1975. Combined with the Selous Game Reserve which borders it to the southwest, this greater ecosystem is the size of Denmark. The park is surrounded by an arc of mountains and protected land, with the Uluguru Mountains to the east, the Mbesera, Madzini and Mazunyungu hills to the north and west.