Combination · 3 days · Private
3-Day Mikumi and Udzungwa Safari and Hiking Combination
Two parks that could not be less alike, an hour apart. Open floodplain with elephant and lion at Mikumi, then rainforest and a 170-metre waterfall on foot at Udzungwa.
- Duration
- 3 days, 2 nights
- Group
- Private
- Activity
- Game drives, rainforest hiking, waterfall
- Starts
- Dar es Salaam
- Ends
- Dar es Salaam
- Best months
- June to February.
Mikumi National Park and Udzungwa Mountains National Park sit about an hour apart on the same road and have almost nothing in common. Mikumi is open floodplain, the Mkata plain, where you drive and the animals are visible at distance: elephant, buffalo, zebra, giraffe, lion, and eland in the open. Udzungwa is closed rainforest where you walk, there are no game-viewing roads at all, and what you come for is primates found nowhere else and a waterfall.
Why do them together. Because a three-day trip that only does one of them wastes the drive, and because the contrast is the point. You get a proper game-viewing day and a proper walking day out of the same journey from Dar es Salaam.
Who it suits. Travellers with a long weekend from Dar, people combining a work trip with a safari, and anyone who does not want three consecutive days sitting in a vehicle. Families do well on it because the two days feel completely different.
If you want Mikumi alone and cheaper, take the 3-day Mikumi camping safari. If you want to add Nyerere National Park as well, we run that as a six-day southern circuit. tell us your dates and we will tell you which fits your days.
Trip highlights
- Game drives on the Mkata floodplain: elephant, buffalo, zebra, giraffe, lion and eland
- The hippo pools at Mikumi, close enough to hear
- The Sanje waterfall trail in Udzungwa: 170 metres in three tiers, with a swim at the middle pool
- Iringa red colobus and Sanje mangabey, endemic to these mountains
- Two completely different parks and two completely different days out of one journey
- Only about four hours from Dar es Salaam to the first park gate
Day by day
Day 1 Dar es Salaam to Mikumi, with an afternoon game drive
Leave Dar after breakfast and drive west through Morogoro, about four to five hours. Enter Mikumi in the early afternoon and game drive across the Mkata plain to the hippo pools on the way to your camp.
Meals: Lunch, dinner
Day 2 Mikumi morning drive, then on to Udzungwa
Out at first light for the best game viewing of the trip. Back for breakfast, then a second loop before leaving the park around midday. About an hour and a half south to Mang'ula, then the short lower forest trail with a ranger in the late afternoon.
Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Day 3 the Sanje waterfall, then back to Dar
Early start for the Sanje trail: three hours up through rainforest to the top of the falls, primate stops on the way, a swim at the middle pool, and about two hours down. Lunch, then the drive back to Dar es Salaam, arriving in the evening.
Meals: Breakfast, lunch
What is included
Included
- Pickup and drop-off in Dar es Salaam
- Private 4x4 with a roof hatch, fuel and a licensed English-speaking driver-guide
- Two nights’ accommodation, one near Mikumi and one near Udzungwa
- All meals as listed in the itinerary
- Mikumi and Udzungwa national park entry fees and government levies
- Compulsory park ranger guide on the Udzungwa trails
- Drinking water throughout
Not included
- International and domestic flights unless stated in the itinerary
- Visa and travel insurance
- Drinks other than the water provided
- Tips for your guide and camp staff
- Anything personal
Before you travel
Pickup and meeting point
We collect you from your hotel in Dar es Salaam, or from Julius Nyerere International Airport if you are arriving the same morning. Give us the property name and your flight details when you book and we confirm the pickup time the evening before.
What to bring
Walking boots with grip for the Udzungwa day, plus lighter shoes for the game drives. Long trousers and long sleeves for the forest. A waterproof. Binoculars. Swimwear and a towel for the waterfall pool. Insect repellent, and malaria prophylaxis for both parks. A warm layer for the early Mikumi drive.
Safety
Inside the park you stay in the vehicle except at marked picnic sites and toilets. Your guide will say when it is safe to stand through the roof hatch. Do not feed or approach any animal, baboons included. Camps in the southern parks are unfenced: after dark you are escorted between your tent and the mess area, and you do not walk alone. On the Udzungwa trails you walk with a compulsory park ranger. The Sanje path is steep and slippery, particularly coming down. You travel in a maintained 4x4 with a licensed Tanzanian driver-guide. Seat belts are fitted in every seat. We carry a first aid kit and drinking water. Travel insurance is not included and we recommend you arrange it before you come.
Questions about this trip
Is three days enough for both parks?
It is enough to do each properly once: a full game-viewing cycle at Mikumi and the main trail at Udzungwa. It is not enough to do either exhaustively. If you want more depth, add a day at whichever appeals more.
Which park is better?
They are not comparable. Mikumi is where you see big animals from a vehicle. Udzungwa is where you walk in rainforest and look for monkeys and a waterfall. People who enjoy this trip enjoy it because the two days are so different.
Can we start from Zanzibar instead?
Yes. You would fly or take the ferry to Dar and we pick you up there. Tell us when you enquire and we will build the connection into the quote.
How fit do we need to be?
The Mikumi days need no fitness at all. The Sanje hike is about 700 metres of climbing over three hours. If that is beyond anyone in the group, they can do the shorter lower trail instead while the others go up.
Other trips in this circuit
3-Day Nyerere National Park Boat and Game Drive Safari from Dar es Salaam
The Rufiji river is what makes Nyerere different from every northern park. Three days by road from Dar…
2-Day Udzungwa Mountains Hiking and Waterfall Safari
Tanzania’s only park you visit entirely on foot. Rainforest that has been forest for thirty million years, two…
6-Day Southern Circuit Safari: Mikumi, Udzungwa and Nyerere
Three southern parks in one loop from Dar: open floodplain game drives at Mikumi, a rainforest waterfall on…
Where this trip goes
Udzungwa Mountains National Park
Rainforest, waterfalls and endemic primates in the Eastern Arc mountains. A walking park rather than a game-drive park,…
Nyerere National Park
Nyerere National Park covers 30,893 square kilometres and is Tanzania's largest. Rufiji River boat safaris, walking safaris and…
Mikumi National Park
Mikumi covers 3,230 square kilometres and borders Nyerere National Park. Open Mkata floodplain, elephant, buffalo and over 400…
Book this trip
Three short steps. We reply with a costed day-by-day itinerary for your dates. Nothing is confirmed and no payment is taken until you are happy with it.