Notable for its untrammelled surroundings more than its wildlife, Mkomazi is a little-visited park best explored in conjunction with the lush Usambara Mountains to its south.
A southern extension of Kenya's vast and semi-arid Tsavo ecosystem, this 3,234-square-kilometre national park supports a great many dry-country species rare or absent elsewhere in Tanzania. For birders, it is the only place in the country where the lovely vulturine guineafowl is likely to be seen, along with other dry-country specials such as Shelley’s starling, Yellow-vented eremomela and Friedmann’s lark. However, while most large mammal species present in Tsavo are resident in Mkomazi, including lion, cheetah, elephant, giraffe, buffalo, zebra, impala and gerenuk, populations are very low. The park is also known for its reintroduced population of African wild dogs and black rhinoceros, but neither is likely to be seen on an ordinary safari.