4 Days 3 Nights Mikumi & Udzungwa

With the wide-open plains of Mikumi and the forested mountains of Udzungwa acting as book-ends to a fascinating exploration of the untamed south.

Mikumi offers ample opportunities to spot the iconic animals, while Udzungwa - sometimes known as Africa's Galapagos - offers the chance to see animals and plants you'll see nowhere else on earth.

Wildlife in Mikumi National Park

Mikumi is remarkably the 3rd largest park in Tanzania, enclosed to the south and east with a semicircle of the Vuma Hills and Uluguru Mountains, rising to 2,743m. These look down across the wide, flat expanse of the Mkata flood plains, which provide a good spotting ground for a variety of larger animals.

Lion, leopard, elephant and buffalo range among the numerous baobabs and palms around the edge, while unusually large herds of up to 100 impala range across the plains. Towards the centre of the park, water collects into watercourses and swamps attracting hippopotamuses, as well as the odd monitor lizard and various water birds.

Udzungwa Mountains National Park

The Udzungwa Mountains National Park is a sumptuous forested reserve that has recently been declared the sacred preserve of hikers and walkers. The land is ancient; a portion of the Eastern Arc mountains pushed upwards by faulting in the earth’s crust millions of years ago, and its steep slopes preserve a rare tropical forest that is home to a realm of unique plants, birds and animals.

It is also the only area in Tanzania where the forest cover remains unbroken from the lowlands all the way into the high mountain canopies. These forests are remarkably unspoilt; a wilderness of extremely beautiful woodland routes – with no driving tracks at all.

The close proximity to the northern border of the Selous means that a number of animals migrate between the two areas, including Lichtenstein’s hartebeest and African hunting dogs. The miombo woodlands in the southeast are also a stalking ground for sable antelope and families of shaggy white-collared Colobus monkeys, and herds of eland and small family groups of Greater Kudu may also be seen between these two areas.