There is a National Park mapped along a busy Highway, but which wants to tap from the new Railway line in Morogoro.
Mikumi may be located along the main Tanzania-Zambia highway, but with the recent introduction of the electricity powered Standard Gauge Railway line, the National Park seems to be now counting on speed trains to feed it with tourists.
Assistant Conservation Commissioner, Augustine George Massesa reveals that the introduction of high-speed electric wagons on the recently built Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) is driving more tourists in the Mikumi National Park.
And of course, the park management wants to take full advantage of that.
“Tourists can now ride the SGR from either Dodoma or Dar-es-salaam and make it in time for their game drives in Mikumi, before catching the trains back to their cities,” Massesa explained.
As for the residents in the nearby Morogoro Municipality, it is usually easy for them to drive from the town to Mikumi or even catch public transport like buses and commuter vans to access Mikumi whose entrance gates are located adjacent to the main road.
Mikumi National Park located near Morogoro, along the main highway to Zambia, occupies some 3,230 square kilometers of Savannah grasslands plains mixed with Miyombo woodlands and tropical forested hills.
The park has almost all the important wildlife species, including the Lion, Leopard, Elephant, Giraffe and possibly the largest herds of buffaloes.
Tour operators want more animals in Mikumi, especially the ‘Big Five,’ consisting of the Lion, Leopard, Giraffe, Elephant and Rhino, with the latter the only missing component, but the management is hatching plans to re-introduce the species.
The park has been receiving nearly 116,000 visitors annually both foreign and domestic tourists as far as records between July 2024 and January 2025 are concerned.
During the seven months’ period, Mikumi National Park has managed to raise 6.4 billion/- in revenues.
According to the Conservation Officer II, ZamZam Juma Yusuph, the amount comprises 89 percent of the park’s collection target for fiscal year ending in June 2025 which was being calculated at 6.8 billion/-
“In the previous 2023/2024 financial year Mikumi generated around 6.6 billion/- from tourism activities,” said the Park Officer.
During the period between June 2023 and July 2024 the National Park recorded a total of 114,730 visitors.
On his part, the Conservation Ranger II at Mikumi Paskal Ntandu said the park was upgrading its Kikoboga airstrip, refurbishing the apron, extending and hardening the runways, in addition to rehabilitating the roads crisscrossing the conservancy.
The face-lifting project includes installation of a state-of-the-art visitors’ information Centre, which features shops, museum, exhibition hall, public toilets as well as car parking.