Mikumi National Park

An excellent tour with Mnyau M. Abi

We booked our tour with Mr. Mnyau M. Abi (0686085022) from Das Es Salaam and went there by bus. Mr. Abi waited for us at the bus station and from that moment we were in very safe hands. With him we went to the national park where we made very beautifull pictures because he drew very near at the animals (even the lions). Also he knew the answers to alle our questions on the park. In the park where only 3 other cars and there were very many young animals. The next day we went to the Sanje waterfalls in Udzungwa Mountains National Park. At the top of te waterfalls we had an excellent vieuw and saw the rare apes. Mr. Abi took care of our breakfest, lunch and accommadation (of course after which we made clear our desires) and even took care that we got the tickets and the right bus back to Dar (he got the faretickets which we could not get at the bus station). It was for me and my wife a very relaxed tour in which we saw and experienced more than we had expected.

Great park, just feels a little bit like an open zoo.

Superb views and wildlife. It did feel a little bit like an open zoo as there were certain pathways to follow and not allowed offroad, even some well defined tracks were off limits. It made getting close to the animals to get a good pic difficult. However, there were a lot of animals and we were even lucky to see two lionesses on the road! We paid the tour operator so not sure how much it costs for entry. Worth it if you have limited time in Dar Es Salam as it can be done as a day tour opposed to 2-3 day tours for other parks.

An amazing experience

Our 2 day safari was beyond our expectations. We knew that March was not the best time of the year for a safari but we were lucky with the weather and therefore saw all the wildlife. The scenery at Mikumi was outstanding. Our accommodation at Mikumi safari lodge was of a high standard and the staff could not do enough for us. Our guide Rama spoke good english and was a wizz at finding lions.

Always Enjoy Mikumi, it's a great way to start the safari tours, depends on which time of year you go as to how many animals seen. We always go September/Oct., they seem the best times as the water holes are visited more.

Amazing Mikumi

Early Sunday morning 13 November the safari car was ready for our trip to Mikumi. We left the Arc hotel at 5am and arrived at the park borders when daylight broke, the best time of the day t o watch animals. The watching of animals in Mikumi is no doubt facilitated by the fact that the main road from Dar es Salaam towards the (wild?!) west passes right through the park. We watched elephants and other animals crossing this busy road without paying special notice to the huge lorries that use the road at all hours of the day.

After driving an additional 40 or 50 kms we arrived at the main gate. We spent some time getting registered and paying the access fees. The entrance staff first insisted that we use credit card to pay the fees. But in the end we were allowed to even pay in Tanzanian shillings, although we were clearly expected to pay in US$. One may wonder how the Tanzanian citizens manage to get into the park if they do not have a credit card or have bought dollars from their local bank.

One of the reasons we went to Mikumi was to also visit the Genesis Snake Park. We had first understood that it was part of the National Park. But it is in fact a private venture, like a small zoo with snakes and other reptiles like crocodiles and turtles. We enquired with the National Park guide about the snake park. He said it was a shame to have it in the Mikumi neighbourhood. In fact, he suggested that we could buy the snakes and other reptiles and move them all to Morogoro if we could find a good place for them there, for example at SUA or in a private zoo that he also thought would be of interest both for local people in Morogoro and for visitors. He said that he could no doubt get the National Park Service to write a recommendation in this regard.

We then drove off into the Mikumi National Park spending a couple of hours on the ‘game drive’. In addition to the big mammals that we already had seen before going through the gate (elephants, girafs and various antelopes and zebras) we also watched many birds, lizards, and maybe we even saw the tail of a leopard.

The possibility to see more than the tail made the driver bring the car off the road and onto some rather clayish and wet terrain. Even using the full four wheel drive gear it took him quite some time to get us back onto the road. Some of us started suggesting that we get off and help by pushing the car. But he finally made it.

On the way back to the entrance we stayed for a while at the so-called hippo lake. However, this rather small lake or pond was really nothing compared to the Wami river hippos that we watched on trip to the Wami-Mbiki Mkongo camp on 11 November, where we could walk along the river bank both watching and listening to the herd of some 30 or 40 hippos enjoying themselves in the middle of the river while clearly aware of us all along. Sometimes one of them opened its huge mouth towards us, apparently as a warning to us not to come too close or maybe stay too long.

After the game drive we then went to the Genesis snake park lodge where a guide showed us various mainly dangerous venomous snakes like cobras and green mambas. We were not very impressed by the presentation, nor by the conditions the snakes were living under (along with some turtles and crocodiles). The guide tried to impress us by making one of cobras (se photo) attack him by tapping on the thick glass window separating the snake from us.

We had a quick lunch at the snake park restaurant and then went back to Morogoro and the Arc hotel.

It's more a wide and open park, compared to Ruaha - and Arusha National park the scenery is not so beautiful and surprising.

I have been 4 times.

The wildlife is good, but no different than many other parks in Tanzania. The location along the Great East Road makes it easily accessible for a quick game drive, but takes away some of the wildness of the remoter parks.

There is bountiful wildlife in Mikumi. The fact that it is so easy to get to from Dar is both a plus and a minus.

Cool place, enjoyable stay, wildlife and fresh breeze!