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Mkomazi National Park

Mkomazi National Park boarders Pare Mountains, Mkomazi falls along the edge of a semi-arid savanna arc that stretches into bordering Kenya's Tsavo East National Park. Every day, thousands of people pass near its gates at Same Town on one of Tanzania's busiest highways. Few, however, know of its rugged acacia-covered beauty beside the Usambara and Pare mountains, with Mount Kilimanjaro in the distance.

Endangered black rhino and wild dog have found refuge in the national park along with the adjacent Umba reserve in order to better protect those and other species. Within the park, the Mkomazi Rhino Sanctuary has attained international renown for rehabilitating rhino, and it offers limitless viewing and educational opportunities for travellers. 

Herds of the tall slender-necked Gerenuks, with their bizarre alien-like heads, survive in Mkomazi's arid lands where other antelope cannot; the Gerenuk even stand on their hind legs to stretch for the tiny leaves of thorny bushes and trees.

The park takes its name from the Pare tribe's word for “water source”, referring to the Umba River on Mkomazi's south eastern border. The river and other water holes keep the park teeming with small and large mammals, including silver backed jackal, lion, cheetah, leopard, lesser kudu, giraffe, buffalo, elephant and zebra. Bird watchers also delight in trying to spot any number of Mkomazi's 450 avian species, from wood hoopoe to tawny eagle, parrot to kingfisher. 

How to get there

By road, Mkomazi is easily accessible via Same Town on the Arusha--Dar-es-Salaam highway.
Charter flights are available to the Zange, Same, Kisima and Ibaya airstrips.

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