Mikumi national park animals

Mikumi national park animals are the primary tourists attractions that most travelers come and experience during their safari in the park. The park is an isolated park that is located in the remote area of Tanzania. The accessibility of the park was very poor till the Dar es Salaam express highway was completed that connected the main Mikumi national park gate to the entire interior of Tanzania and globe at large. Todate after the completion of the highway, the park has become a hot cake for the short safaris that start from Dar es Salaam. The park is just a throw of a stone from the busy and former capital city of Tanzania Dar Es Salaam hence making busness travelers to use it as a gate way of refreshment and relaxation after long day ship journey and business hours.  The most done safaris are weekend tours that last for two or three days starting from Friday to Sunday.

Mikumi national park is the forth largest national park in Tanzania and its regarded as little Serengeti national park due to is over welling number of animals that the park hosts. Its diverse ecosystem and vegetation cover has attracted rare and different animal species. The opening of the Mikumi Selous road has made it great for the tourists to combine the two best south protected area. Their closeness has made the diversified ecosystem of Mikumi selous one of the busiest which can be experienced throughout the year. The grassy open savannah dotted with Acacia trees has greatly contributed to more animal species at the park. The park hosts more graze animals with few predators especially the big cats with Lions dominating the number. The most exciting experience at the park is the rare tree climbing lions which have become more popular than even in Lake Manyara national park. The park gives higher chances of viewing tree climbing lions than any other park not only in Tanzania but entire Africa.

When talking about Mikumi national park animals, one has to note that the parks has got four members of African big five missing only the Rhinos (Lions, Leopards, Elephants, and Buffaloes) However some books suggest that there have been some sights of Rhinos at the park but they have not yet proved they allegations. If the guests wants to have complete experience of African big five then one has to add his or her trip to cover the African largest game reserve that is Selous Game reserve where there are Rhinos. To access the game reserve from Mikumi national park is just 2 hours drive and you add lifetime wildlife experience.

The distribution of Mikumi national park animals is evenly distributed though the game viewing is done on one side alone due to poor road network at the park. The rare animals are found on the southern part of the park where the game drives are not possible. The game viewing is excellent at the Makata plains in the Northern part of the park.

Mikumi national park animals:

Predators or Carnivores

These are the type of animals that feed on prey, the park has a good number of predators though the number is not over welling.  The park has two species of the big cats those are Lions and the rare shy Leopards. The lions are in two species the common or land lions which take the largest population and are found across the park. These are easily seen roaming even on the highway of Dar es Salaam. The other tree climbing lions are few but found in the Northern part and the Sourthern part. The park has the highest chances of guests viewing the tree climbing lions compared to the famous Lake Manyara national park. It has become one of the key attractions that attracts guests to the park.

Leopards need an eagle eye for spotting but at most guests always get more chances to vie the animal. With the help of experienced and knowledgeable guide from reputable tour operator the chances of viewing these shy cats are higher. This is simply because the driver guides know the particular places where they are commonly seen at the park. They leave in territories and this has helped the game rangers even to name them.

Other Mikumi national park animals of prey include Hyenas which are mostly seen across the park. The African spotted Hyenas are more at the park and they leave in groups of 2 to 10 individuals. They take most time lazy and sleeping , when it comes to food they look for already killed food especially they like challenging the leopards and lions for food. They also kill the small animals. They start eating the animal when it’s still alive till they manage to kill it when the animal has lost more blood and strength.

The grazers or Herbivores

The grazers contribute the largest population of Mikumi national park animals almost 90% of the total animal species. The animals are distributed to the open savannah plains of the park. The park is one of the reliable national park in Tanzania where guests can see the rare species of Antelopes like the Eland which is the largest Antelope in the world. Other spceies include the greater Kudu, Sable antelope that are normally found on the Southern part of the park in the woodland of Miombo that sits in the foothills of the mountains. The lichtendtein’s hartebeest is another rare antelope that can be easily spotted in Mikumi national park. Other grazers include: Zebras, Giraffes, Elephants, Buffaloes, Wildebeest, Gazelles, hippos, topis mention but a few.

 When sighting Mikumi national park animals, we donot miss the great number of bird species found at the park. This park has over 400 bird species like: Lilac-breasted roller, secretary bird, Boehm’s Bee-eater, Dickson’s kestrel, Straw-tailed Whydah, Superb starling, Yellow-throated long claw, Bateleur eagle, herons among others.

Best time for animal viewing in Mikumi national park

Game viewing at the park is excellent throughout the year but the most preferred timeis during the dry season. The dry months start from June to October when the sun is hot and the grass is thinner hence easy sighting of even smaller animals. The other factor is that the animals collect around the water catchment areas hence easy animal viewing. For the birder the best time is during the rainy season from March to May when the birds are breeding and the park receives migratory birds.