Mikumi National Park

Mikumi National Park is located on the northern border of Africa's biggest game reserve - the Selous – and is transected by the surfaced road between Dar es Salaam and Iringa. It is thus the most accessible part of a 75,000 square tract of wilderness that stretches east almost as far as the Indian Ocean.
 

The open horizons and abundant wildlife of the Mkata Floodplain, the popular centerpiece of Mikumi, draw frequent comparisons to the more famous Serengeti Plains.

Lions survey their grassy kingdom – and the zebra, wildebeest, impala and buffalo herds that migrate across it – from the flattened tops of termite mounds, or sometimes, during the rains, from perches high in the trees. Giraffes forage in the isolated acacia stands that fringe the Mkata River, islets of shade favored also by Mikumi's elephants.
Criss-crossed by a good circuit of game-viewing roads, the Mkata Floodplain is perhaps the most reliable place in Tanzania for sightings of the powerful eland, the world’s largest antelope. The equally impressive greater kudu and sable antelope haunt the Miombo-covered foothills of the mountains that rise from the park’s borders.

More than 400 bird species have been recorded, with such colorful common residents as the lilac-breasted roller, yellow-throated long claw and bateleur eagle joined by a host of European migrants during the rainy season. Hippos are the star attraction of the pair of pools situated 5km north of the main entrance gate, supported by an ever-changing cast of water birds.
The landscape is one of open grassy plains interspersed with brachystegia (miombo) woodland, acacia forests, small lakes and swampy wetlands. Major features of attraction include Lake Katavi with its vast short grass flood plains in the north; palm fringed Lake Chada in the Southeast and Katuma River. Katavi boasts Tanzania’s greatest population of both crocodile and hippopotamus. In addition to the buffalo, hippo and elephant, the park holds vast quantities of crocs, topi, giraffe, hartebeest, sable, roan, waterbuck and reedbuck and large populations of predators - lion, hyena, leopard. The rare puku antelope can be seen with some luck for some extraordinary reason it also seems to hold vast quantities of mice, especially around the edge of Chada flood plain. The 400 plus species of birds reflect an intriguing balance between east and southern African species.
Katavi is the best visited in the dry season between May and October. This is mostly because all roads in, are strictly four wheel drive tracks, which become impassable in the rainy season. For accommodation there is a rest house and campsites within the park area, hotels and loges in Mpanda and Sumbawanga towns