Mkomazi National Park

Mkomazi

Mkomazi National Park finds itself in a beautiful setting with both the Pare and Usambara mountains towering above its boundaries. Depending on the weather, Mount Kilimanjaro can also be seen from the park. To the south, the pare and Usambara mountains form a dramatic backdrop and to the north, Kenya’s vast Tsavo National Park shares a border with Mkomazi, making common ground for migratory herds of elephants, oryx, and zebra during the wet season. Together with Tsavo, it forms one of the largest and most important protected ecosystems on earth. Mkomazi derives its name from the Pare-ethnic language; “Mko and Mazi”. “Mko” means a traditional tiny wooden spoon used by the Pare people for eating and “Mazi” means water. This implies that the water in the Park is hardly enough to fill up the wooden spoon. It covers an area of 3,245sq km.

Uniqueness

• Giraffe, oryx, gerenuk, hartebeest lesser kudu, eland, impala, and grants gazelle share the park with elephants, buffalo, and numerous predators including lions, leopards, and cheetah.
• Due to the climate, the vegetation primarily consists of acacia-Commiphora woodlands, and towards the western mountains the vegetation changes to a dry land forest.
• Mkomazi is a vital refuge for two highly endangered species, the charismatic black rhino and the sociable African wild dog, both of which were successfully reintroduced in the 1990s.