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The Mikumi National Park, part of the vast Selous eco system, is Tanzania’s fourth-largest national park with pretty undulating landscapes and decent resident game populations. Most people just stop here on their way to Ruaha for an overnight stay. It’s surely not as spectacular as Ruaha, Selous or Katavi and not a big enough draw in its own right to attract many international visitors. Nevertheless it’s worth going, especially for the ones being on a budget. It can be reached via the Iringa road within three hours from Dar es Salaam. Mikumi town offers cheap, if basic accommodation and can easily be reached with public transport.
 

Unfortunately the main Dar to Mbeya road sees trucks hurtling right through the middle of the park, which kind of takes the edge off any kind of wilderness experience in this sector of the park. Horrible accidents with elephants and other wildlife occur on the main road. Especially at night cars bump into elephants, zebras or impalas due to the missing light or too high speed. I witnessed heartbreaking scenes, like dead elephants or a deranged hyena pup, that was cowering next to its dead mother. The rangers say that some lions and hyenas adapt to these conditions and stay close to the main road to speculate for the cadavers of the accident victims.
 

Within its 3230 m², set between the Uluguru Mountains to the north and the Lumango Mountains to the southeast, Mikumi hosts giraffes, wildebeests, zebras, elephants, lions, hippos, crocodiles and many more. Chances are high that you’ll see a good sampling of these within a short time, especially north to the main road. The best and most reliable viewing is around the Mkata floodplains or Mwanambogo Dam, where many of the park’s wildlife goes to drink. Sadly the rangers did some controlled burning here during my visit, which led a lot of animals move to other sectors of the park.