Mikumi safaris, made simple

From Zanzibar: Mikumi Safari Day Trip with Flights and Lunch

The safari that put Mikumi on the map for beach holidaymakers, with more than three thousand reviews on GetYourGuide. You fly from Zanzibar to the park in the morning, join shared game drives in a 4x4 across the plains, stop for a bush lunch and fly back in the afternoon. It is a long day with an early start, but it turns a beach week into a beach-and-safari trip without changing hotels.

• Return light-aircraft flights from Zanzibar
• Shared 4x4 game drives and a bush lunch
• By far the most-reviewed Mikumi safari on GetYourGuide

From Zanzibar: Mikumi Safari by Twin-Engine Plane + Lunch

A fly-in day safari that makes a point of using a twin-engine aircraft for the hop between Zanzibar and Mikumi. The listing includes lunch, park fees and flights, and the longer stated duration reflects a fuller day on the ground. A solid alternative when the bestseller is sold out, or if two engines simply make you more comfortable.

• Flights on a twin-engine aircraft
• Lunch, park fees and flights included per the listing
• Well reviewed, with around 150 ratings

From Dar es Salaam: Mikumi National Park Day Trip

Mikumi in a single day from Dar es Salaam. The park lies roughly 280–300 km west of the city, so however the transfer is arranged this is a very early start and a late return, with the game drive in the middle of the day. It works if you have one free day between flights and want to see elephants, giraffes and zebra rather than the city — check the listing for exact timings and what is included.

• Day safari from Dar without an overnight
• Game drive on the Mkata floodplain
• One of the best-rated Dar departures

From Dar es Salaam: 1-Day Mikumi Adventure Safari by Train

The modern way to do Mikumi from Dar: the electric standard-gauge (SGR) train covers the stretch to Morogoro in a fraction of the time the highway takes, and a vehicle continues from there to the park for game drives and a picnic lunch. Train times are set by the railway and can change, so the operator fixes the exact schedule when you book.

• Electric SGR train from Dar to Morogoro
• Game drives and a picnic lunch in the park
• Among the lowest starting prices for a Dar day safari

Zanzibar: Mikumi Wonderful Safari with Open Jeeps

A three-day package from Zanzibar that pairs game drives in open-sided safari jeeps with a cultural visit. Spreading the trip over three days means you are in the park for the early morning and late afternoon, when the cats are active and the light is best — exactly the hours a day trip misses. Highly rated by the travellers who have reviewed it.

• Three days starting and ending in Zanzibar
• Game drives in open safari jeeps
• Includes a cultural visit

3-Day, 2-Night Safari from Zanzibar to Mikumi by Ferry

The budget route from the island: a ferry to the mainland, then overland to Mikumi for two nights, with game drives and a Maasai village visit. You can choose between a private and a shared small-group safari. Travel takes up a good part of the first and last days, but the starting price is a fraction of a fly-in overnight.

• Ferry from Zanzibar, then overland to Mikumi
• Private or shared small-group options
• Maasai village visit on the programme

2 Days: Mikumi Park from Dar es Salaam by Luxury Train

A short overnight safari that starts from your Dar hotel early in the morning and returns the next day by train. One night at Mikumi is the single biggest upgrade over a day trip: it makes a late-afternoon or dawn drive possible, which is when lions and other predators are most likely to be seen.

• Train travel from Dar es Salaam
• One night away from the city
• Game drives at the best times of day

From Zanzibar: Selous Game Reserve Day Safari with Lunch

The other big fly-in safari from Zanzibar, to the former Selous Game Reserve — today largely Nyerere National Park. It is wilder and much larger than Mikumi, with rivers and lakes as well as bush. We list it because most people choosing a one-day safari from the island end up comparing exactly these two.

• Flights, entry and guide included per the listing
• Game viewing in Nyerere National Park (ex-Selous)
• The main alternative to Mikumi from Zanzibar

Mkata Floodplain

The open plains at the heart of the park

The wide, grassy basin north of the highway is where almost every Mikumi game drive happens. Zebra, wildebeest, buffalo, impala, elephants and giraffes graze in the open, lions follow them, and the horizon is closed by blue mountain ranges on every side — a landscape often compared with the Serengeti, at a fraction of the travelling.

Hippo Pools

Mikumi’s best-known waterhole

A pair of pools a few kilometres north-west of the main gate where hippos spend the day submerged, snorting and jostling, while crocodiles lie on the banks and waterbirds work the edges. It is one of the few places in the park where you may get out of the vehicle, which makes it the classic picnic and photo stop.

Dar es Salaam

Tanzania’s biggest city and Mikumi’s main gateway

The country’s commercial capital and main international airport, on the Indian Ocean roughly 280–300 km east of Mikumi. Most road and rail safaris to the park start here. The city itself is hot, hectic and likeable in small doses: a harbour-front fish market, a good national museum, and beaches and islands to the north.

Zanzibar

Fly out after breakfast, back for sundowners

Mikumi is the safari park that Zanzibar’s beach hotels sell: a light aircraft takes about an hour from the island to the airstrip beside the park headquarters, and you can be watching elephants by mid-morning. This page explains how the fly-in day works, what it costs and when a night or two in the park is worth the extra.

Udzungwa Mountains

Sanje Falls and a rainforest without roads

About an hour or so south of Mikumi town, a wall of forested mountains rises straight from the Kilombero sugar fields. Udzungwa Mountains National Park has no game-drive tracks at all — you explore on foot with a ranger. The half-day hike to Sanje Falls, which drop about 170 metres in several stages, is the classic; monkeys found nowhere else on earth are the other draw.

Nyerere National Park (Selous)

Boat safaris on the Rufiji River

Mikumi’s southern neighbour is Tanzania’s largest national park, carved in 2019 out of the Selous Game Reserve. Where Mikumi is compact and easy, Nyerere is vast and wild: boat safaris among hippos and crocodiles on the Rufiji River, walking safaris, and one of the continent’s more important populations of African wild dogs.