Mkomazi National Park

Wildlife & Animals

Expert

Philip is the author of the Bradt guidebook to Tanzania.

Mkomazi National Park’s dramatic landscape is the perfect backdrop for incredible photo opportunities of Masai giraffes. These magnificent animals are plentiful and relaxed here. Also regularly seen are plains zebra, Coke’s hartebeest, Grant’s gazelle and the tiny Kirk’s dik-dik. Big herds of eland are common too, but they are shy and you’ll mostly see them kicking up dust as they disappear in the distance.

ElephantOccasional

GiraffeCommon

HippoRare

BuffaloOccasional

ZebraAbundant

WildebeestNone

White RhinoNone

Black RhinoOccasional

LionRare

LeopardRare

CheetahRare

HyenaRare

Wild DogRare

Wildlife Highlights

The Kisima Rhino Breeding Sanctuary, set in the heart of Mkomazi, is one of Tanzania’s great conservation success stories. A guided 4x4 excursion into the offshoot Mkomazi Black Rhino Tourist Sanctuary, which opened in 2021, is highly recommended. It is educational and offers one of the best opportunities in Africa to get close to black rhinos in a natural environment. Localized dry-country antelope such as fringe-eared oryx, lesser kudu and gerenuk are more likely to be seen in the rhino sanctuary than elsewhere in the park.

Best Time for Wildlife Viewing

The Dry season (June to October) is the best time for general wildlife viewing in the park. However, Mkomazi isn’t a prime wildlife-viewing destination and the scenery and views of the mountains are at their best in the Wet season (November to May). This is also the best time to see elephants migrating into the park from Kenya’s Tsavo West National Park.