Game drive in Mikumi National Park

We were late arriving at Tan Swiss Lodge, our camp near Mikumi. We should have been on a 2pm game drive, but, by the time, we’d put up our tents and had a quick lunch, it was nearer 3pm.

We drove to the park in three 4x4 vehicles. Laban was in our car. It all felt a bit rushed, but as soon as we got into the park, we started seeing wildlife. Over the next few hours we saw:

• Plains zebras with oxpeckers on their backs
• Baboons
• Vervet monkeys
• Masai giraffes – the largest sub-species in Africa
• Male impala
• An oryx
• Lots of common warthogs – these are different from the others we’ve seen in Africa in that the males have manes!
• Eland
• Buffalo
• A pair of southern ground hornbills
• Grey hornbills
• Wildebeest
• Buffalo weavers
• Red-beaked oxpeckers
• A large iguana up a tree
• A lioness and her cubs (a mix of males and females, around two years of age)
• Superb starlings
• A lilac breasted roller
• Hippos
• Crocodiles
• A group of sleeping lions (one of them had been injured on a poacher’s snare – he was being treated by rangers)
• A tawny eagle
• A family of elephants with a one-year old baby suckling its mum (elephants feed their young until they are four or five years old)

Even Laban was impressed with how much we saw. The highlight had to be the lions! We got so close to them. The park closes at 6.30pm. We were late and had to race to the exit, arriving there at 6.45pm. We were very close to spending the night in the park!! Once we’d left the park, we saw more elephants next to the road. Drivers are fined if they kill an animal on the road. There is a sliding scale of charges, depending on the animal involved. The most expensive is a lion. If you accidentally kill one, it will cost you US$10,000!

Back on site, we discussed our sightings and compared photos and videos. We were all on a bit of a high because of what we’d just experienced!

Henry had cooked us lamb stew and fried potatoes for dinner.Read more