2 days Mikumi & the Chizua Waterfall
A game drive on the floodplain and a walk into the Uvidunda hills behind it, where the Chizua falls come down through the forest.
Wildlife & Hiking
Mikumi in a Day, by Train
The six o’clock train to Morogoro, a full day of game drives on the Mkata floodplain, and the evening train home. No overnight, no long drive.
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At a glance
- Destinations
- Mikumi National Park
- Best for
- Wildlife safari
- Travel style
- Budget · SGR train, Drive
- Activity level
- Easy — most of the day is spent in a vehicle or on a boat
- Best time to travel
- June to October usually gives drier Mikumi tracks for the game drive between train journeys. The park is accessible year-round, but rain can slow a short visit; confirm train times and the station-to-park transfer before booking.
- Start and end
- Dar es Salaam, there and back on the SGR
Why this journey
- Train tickets both ways included
- Morning and afternoon game drives on the Mkata floodplain
- The Uluguru mountains behind the park
- Three meals, taken at the park restaurant
- Back in Dar by around nine in the evening
Day by day
Before the railway this was a fourteen-hour round trip by road. The SGR gets you to Morogoro in under two hours, which leaves most of the day for the park itself.
Pickup from your Dar es Salaam hotel at 05:00. Board the SGR train departing 06:00, arriving in Morogoro by 07:40. Your safari guide meets you for the two-hour drive to Mikumi National Park. After checking in, breakfast at the park restaurant, then morning game drives to observe the abundant wildlife. A midday lunch break at the park restaurant. Afternoon exploration continues with further game drives. Depart by 16:00 to catch the 19:25 evening train back to Dar es Salaam, arriving around 21:10 with hotel transfer included.
Stay and travel
A day trip, so there is no overnight stay. You start and finish at the agreed pick-up point.
The standard-gauge train for the long leg out of Dar es Salaam, then a 4×4 with a roof hatch.
Camps fill, and roads change with the rains. Where something has to change we substitute at the same level and tell you before you travel, not after.
Included and excluded
What is included
- Every activity named in the day-by-day
- Accommodation as listed, or a similar alternative if a camp is full
- Meals as noted against each day
- Transfers between the agreed pick-up and drop-off points
- Park, reserve and conservation area fees
- An English-speaking Tanzanian driver-guide
- A 4×4 with a roof hatch, or the vehicle the route calls for
- Drinking water through the day
- Government taxes
- SGR train tickets
- TANAPA armed ranger where the park requires one
Not included
- International flights, airport taxes and visa fees
- Travel, medical and baggage insurance
- Personal spending — drinks, laundry, telephone
- Tips for your guide and crew
- Anything not listed as included
Practical information
- Visas, insurance and tipping
- A visa is arranged before travel or on arrival. Travel and medical insurance is a condition of booking. Tipping is customary and we will suggest a range rather than set one.
Related journeys
2 days 2 days Mikumi by Train — a Weekend
Out on Saturday’s train, back on Sunday’s. Two days in the Mkata floodplain without taking leave, and no eight-hour drive at either end.
Wildlife
3 days Mikumi at the Top End
The train out, a private vehicle at the other end, and a lodge worth staying in. Three days in Mikumi with nothing shared and nothing rushed.
Wildlife
Every route here can be changed
Tell us what you would keep, what you would drop and how long you have. We will send back a version that is yours.