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Mikumi National Park
Mikumi National Park is the fourth largest park in Tanzania with an area of 3,230 sq km (1,250 sq miles). It abuts the northern border of Selous Game Reserve which is also the largest game reserve on the African continent. Mikumi National Park is very accessible by vehicle because of a tarmac road that runs from Iringa to Dar es Salaam. The road makes nearly 75,000 sq. kilometers (47,000 sq. miles) of the park accessible. The Mkata Floodplain is home to the eland, the world’s largest antelope. The sable antelope and the greater kudu are found in the foothills of the mountains that rise from the park’s boundaries. There have been more than 400 species of birds recorded in the park. There are also road connections to Udzungwa Mountain National Park, Ruaha National Park and in the dry season to Selous Game Reserve.
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Ruaha National Park
Ruaha National Park is the second largest park in the nation, covering 10,300 sq km (3,980 sq miles). This park is abundant in inhabitants which include giraffe, zebra, impala, waterbuck, a variety of antelope, lions, cheetahs, leopards, striped and spotted hyena, Grant's gazelle and lesser kudu, as well as the endangered African wild dog,. It is also home to one of East Africa’s largest populations of greater kudu, and home to the largest elephant population of any East African national park. More than 450 species of birds have been recorded in the park.
Game viewing for predators and large mammals is best during the dry season of mid-May through December. The male greater kudu is most visible in June during the breeding season. Bird-watching is best in the wet season of January through April.
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Saadani National Park
The Saadani National Park became the 13th National Park in 2002. It is the largest National Park covering 1,100 sq km (430 sq miles) and is the only wildlife sanctuary in East Africa to feature a beachfront on the Indian Ocean. The area has been protected as a game reserve since the nineteen sixties and in two thousand and two the area was expanded to cover twice its former area.
The parks inhabitants include the giraffe, buffalo, warthog, common waterbuck, reedbuck, hartebeest, wildebeest, red duiker, greater kudu, eland, sable antelope, elephants, lions, leopards, the spotted hyena and the black-backed jackal, yellow baboons, and the velvet monkey.
On the Wami River clients can spot hippos, crocodiles, and birds like the mangrove kingfisher and lesser flamingo. The beach itself is one of the last breeding grounds on the mainland for the rare green turtle. Clients can enjoy the white sandy beach or visit the Saadani fishing village which lies within the reserve.
The best game-viewing is in January and February and from June to August. Road access to Saadani is accessible year round from Tanga and Pangani only. However, the access roads to this park are sometimes impassable during April and May during the heavy rains.
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Udzungwa National Park
The Udzungwa Mountains National Park covers 1,990 sq km (770 sq miles) and rises uninterrupted in altitude from 250 meters (820 feet) to above 2,000 meters (6,560 ft).
The Udzungwa Mountain is one of the mountains in the ancient Eastern Arc. Only the Udzungwa Mountain has been accorded national park status within the arc that originates in Kenya and terminates with this mountain. Udzungwa Mountain is the largest and most bio diverse of the forest shrouded mountains that rise majestically from the flat coastal area of eastern Tanzania. It along with Amani Game Reserve is often referred to as the African Galapagos because of its endemic animals, birds, trees and plants.
The Udzungwa Mountain National Park is magnificent for hikers but is not a game drive destination! It boasts an outstanding network of forest trails for hiking that includes a climb to the Sanje Waterfall, which plunges 170 meters (550 feet) through a misty spray into the forested valley below. The Mwanihana Trail leads to the high plateau, with its panoramic view, before ascending to the second-highest point in the Eastern Arc range, the Mwanihana peak.
Over 400 species of birds have been recorded here, including more than a dozen species endemic only to the Eastern Arc. Four bird species are peculiar to the Udzungwa Mountains, including the forest partridge, which was first discovered in 1991. It is home to a rare species of the African violet. Primate inhabitants include the Sanje Crested Mangabey discovered in nineteen seventy nine and the Iringa red Colobus both of which occur nowhere else in the world!
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The park is accessible year round although it is hazardous in the rains. The dry season is June through October but be prepared for fast changing conditions even in that season.
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Selous Game Reserve
The Selous is known in swahili as Shamba ya Bibi - literally translated as "women's garden". It has the largest number of several species of animals found in a single reserve anywhere in the world:
- elephant - 65,000
- Bufalo - 110,000
- Hipopotamus - 40,000
- Lion - 3,000
- The endangered African Hunting Dog - 1,300
The Selous ecosystem encompasses a wide spectrum of wildlife habitats including open grasslands, miombo woodlands that cover three quarters of the reserve, and riverine forests. As a result of its unique ecological importance, the Selous was declared a World Heritage Site in 1982.
Selous was the son of a chairman of the London Stock Exchange, Born in England in 1851, he bacame a noted naturalist, conservationist and big game hunter. He was killed in 1917 while a Captain leading a detachment against a German position.
Flora / Fauna: miombo woodland, open wooded grassland, riverine swamps
Habitat : African Wild Dog, Elephant, Cheetah, Giraffe, Hippopotamus, Buffalo, Crocodile, White Rhinoceros
largest game reserve in Africa; 350 bird species.
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