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Mikumi national park |
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Swirls of opaque mist hide the advancing
dawn. The first shafts of sun color the fluffy grass heads
rippling across the plain in a russet halo. A herd of
zebras, confident in their camouflage at this predatory
hour, pose like ballerinas, heads aligned and stripes
merging in flowing motion.
Mikumi National Park abuts the northern border of Africa's
biggest game reserve - the Selous – and is transected by the
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surfaced road between Dar es Salaam and Iringa. It is thus
the most accessible part of a 75,000 square kilometer
(47,000 square mile) tract of wilderness that stretches east
almost as far as the Indian Ocean. |
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Lions survey their grassy kingdom – and the zebra,
wildebeest, impala and buffalo herds that migrate across it
from the flattened tops of termite mounds, or sometimes,
during the rains, from perches high in the trees. Giraffes
forage in the isolated acacia stands that fringe the Mkata
River, islets of shade favored also by Mikumi's elephants.Criss-crossed
by a good circuit of game-viewing roads, the Mkata
Floodplain is perhaps the most reliable place in Tanzania
for sightings of the powerful eland, the world’s largest
antelope. |
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