Mikumi

Mikumi is the southern circuit's introduction, and the only substantial park in the country that can be reached from Dar es Salaam in a morning. The surfaced Tanzam highway runs through it, which makes access easy and also means the northern section carries traffic — animals do cross, and the speed limit through the park exists for good reason.

The Mkata floodplain in the north is the part that matters: open grassland framed by the Uluguru and Lumango mountains, with a look that genuinely recalls the Serengeti on a smaller scale. Buffalo, zebra, wildebeest, impala and elephant are all straightforward here, and the lion population is well established.

Because it borders Nyerere to the south, Mikumi is part of a far larger ecosystem than its 3,230 square kilometres suggest. It works well as a two-day trip from Dar, or as the first stop on a longer southern route towards Udzungwa and Ruaha.