Tanzania Travels: 2 days in Mikumi National Park

The only thing between me and a sleepy lion was one step off an open-air Land Rover. I held my breathe long enough to realize there was no need to be nervous. The lion, his lioness, and the five others in the area had their bloated bellies turned towards the setting sun. All seven of the lions were stuffed from the night’s kill, and all were content to avoid going to sleep hungry. The ripe smell of a carcass fueled our safari guide’s racing desire to find the pride, and it worked. These lions had no intention of pouncing, so I exhaled and enjoyed the following moments of peace.

I had the opportunity to spend slightly over 2 days at Foxes Vuma Hills Tented Camp (here) in Mikumi National Park outside of Morogoro, Tanzania at the end of May on a group trip led by my talented Aunt Jodi. I’ve seen her build her company Let’s Venture by Jodi Morris for a decade with passion and energy, so I was thrilled to finally join in Tanzania. Our 2 days at Mikumi National Park were the last days of our trip - the icing on the cake - and a way to explore and relax.

Foxes Vuma Hills is a small safari camp offering 16 luxury tents. As an avid wilderness backpacker, I have a hard time calling these luxury rooms “tents”; if the walls were made of anything other than canvas, this would be a suite at the finest hotel. There were multiple beds in our tent, a strong roof, running water for the toilet, sink, and shower, and beautiful hard wood floors. Outside of the zippered entrance, I enjoyed a porch swing with a priceless view overlooking the Mwanamboga Waterhole. When the sun rose in the mornings, my eyes would eat up the faint pink light of dawn through the black mesh.

Upon arrival in the afternoon, we were welcomed with a delicious lunch buffet of quiche, rice, ground beef, salad, and bread. From this moment on, the food would never cease to impress us, including the vegetarian and pescatarian options.

I experienced 4 game drives in total. The first sunset tour started at 4:00pm and ended with the sunset around 6:30pm. The night was full of wild giraffes, baobab trees, hippos, warthogs, monstrous monitor lizards, elephants, and lions so close they were practically breathing on us. We sat in a large Land Rover with tiered seats, so every position had a great view of the great plains. The animals were not shy, and I believe this was due to the fact we were one of the only explorers out at that time.

There is an airport in the middle of the park that connects Mikumi National Park to the island of Zanzibar for day tours. I quickly realized in the morning that the park actually does get crowded in the early hours of the day. The late afternoon and night hours are by far the best in my opinion.

Our guide Fraida and driver Onus were special folks. Fraida could spot a speck in the distance and tell you every fact in the book about that species. Onus brought positive energy during the entire journey and brought a smile of his own. They both worked like crazy, offering their eyes and minds during the game drives, and offering their cooking and serving at the restaurant at night. When is there time for sleep?

Fraida had an especially amazing story. There are few women in the safari guiding industry because of the time commitment away from home. She is here at the park for 10 months out of the year away from her child. She video chats her young son who lives with Fraida’s mother in the north of Tanzania twice daily outside of the long working hours. Right now, all of the sacrifice is worthwhile due to her passion for Tanzania’s outdoors and the wage in the tourism industry.

By the second day, we finally got a zebra sighting. However, coming around a curve and gazing upon the hill, we realized it was an entire herd. My guess is we saw over 40 zebras along with 40 wildebeests standing together, enjoying the early summer setting sun. I’ve only seen these stripped animals in zoos, never really grasping the utter madness of how the black and white fur has evolved. It’s the same with the giraffes underneath the trees - the pattern of the fur and unnaturally long neck is, well, all natural. These animals, all animals, are madness and a miracle. We finished the day with some sightings of baboons, hyenas, jackals, impalas, and buffaloes as well. The only animal we missed was the spotted leopard.

Coming from the United States, I can appreciate our protected lands and national parks, but have only recently started to inquire about the history of the lands. I asked Fraida, “Who lived here before Mikumi became a national park in 1964 and was there any resistance from local people?” She said the nomadic village leaders agreed to move off the land peacefully. I’d like to find more information and challenge this, but have had no luck online.

Most people think of the famous Serengeti National Park when they think of safari tours in Tanzania. Serengeti is the larger park by both land mass and visitors compared to Mikumi, about four times larger and receives four times more visitors per year.

Mikumi is also closer to the capital city Dar es Salaam, so depending on where you’re traveling, it may be more accessible than the Serengeti which is in the north near Arusha. In terms of animals, you will spot many of the same at both parks, but I learned that you cannot find rhinoceros here in Mikumi, but you can at Serengeti.

My time, although exhilarating, included sitting during the game drives and feasting on the most delicious food.

There was no opportunity to take long walks (there are wild animals for goodness sake) and the camp staff was required to even walk you 100 feet back to the tent accommodation. If you are a person who wants to exercise during your stay, be ready to do yoga on your porch or prepare an aerobics/strength routine.

I remember thinking how special it is to be in the presence of truly wild and free animals and how important it is that they remain protected. Passionate people like Onus and Fraida make that happen. I hope to return one day!