Mkomazi occupies dry acacia-commiphora savanna beneath the Pare and Usambara mountains, and is contiguous with Tsavo West across the Kenyan border — together they form a single very large ecosystem. It was a game reserve from 1951 and became a national park in 2008.
The park is best known for two intensive conservation programmes. The Mkomazi Rhino Sanctuary holds a protected black rhino population established through reintroduction, and a separate breeding programme has worked on African wild dog since the 1990s.
Wildlife here is dry-country: fringe-eared oryx, gerenuk, lesser kudu and Grant’s gazelle, alongside elephant, giraffe and the predators. Because it is off the standard circuit, visitor numbers are very low, and on clear days Kilimanjaro is visible to the north-west.