Mikumi covers roughly 3,230 square kilometres in southern Tanzania and is the most accessible large park from Dar es Salaam, reachable by road in around four to five hours. That accessibility makes it the practical choice for a short safari added to a coastal holiday.
The heart of the park is the Mkata floodplain, open grassland with scattered acacia and borassus palms, and the landscape has drawn comparisons with the Serengeti plains. The openness makes game spotting straightforward.
Wildlife includes large buffalo and zebra herds, wildebeest, impala, giraffe, elephant, lion and hippo in the pools near the park entrance. Eland, greater kudu and sable antelope live in the wooded hills to the south. Over 400 bird species have been recorded.
Mikumi borders Nyerere National Park, so the two combine well into a southern circuit trip of five or six nights without long transfers between them.