Saadani National Park - Bush and beach!
Saadani
is known for the beach and the bush.
Located just 70km north of Bagamoyo
and immediately accessible by paved from Dar es
Salaam, Saadani has recently become a fully protected
national park and like Mikumi, is a popular
weekend trip.
Palm trees sway in a cooling oceanic breeze. White
sand and blue water sparkle alluringly beneath the
tropical sun. Traditional dhows sail slowly past,
propelled by billowing white sails, while Swahili
fishermen cast their nets below a brilliant red
sunrise. Saadani is where the beach meets the bush.
The only wildlife sanctuary in East Africa to boast
an Indian Ocean beachfront, it possesses all the
attributes that make Tanzania's tropical coastline
and islands so popular with European sun-worshippers.
Yet it is also the one place where those idle hours
of sunbathing might be interrupted by an elephant
strolling past, or a lion coming to drink at the
nearby waterhole!
Protected as a game reserve since the 1960s, in
2002 it was expanded to cover twice its former area.
The reserve suffered greatly from poaching prior
to the late 1990s, but recent years have seen a
marked turnaround, due to a concerted clampdown
on poachers, based on integrating adjacent villages
into the conservation drive.
The Wami River, which passes through Saadani National
Park and empties into the Indian Ocean, hosts a
large population of hippos, crocodiles, flamingos,
and many large bird species. Today, a surprisingly
wide range of grazers and primates are seen on game
drives and walks, among them giraffe, buffalo, warthog,
common waterbuck, reedbuck, hartebeest, wildebeest,
red duiker, greater kudu, eland, sable antelope,
yellow baboon and vervet monkey.
Herds of up to 30 elephants are encountered with
increasing frequency, and several lion prides are
resident, together with leopard, spotted hyena and
black-backed jackal. Boat trips on the mangrove-lined
Wami River show beaches that form one of the last
major green turtle breeding sites on mainland Tanzania.
For more information about Saadani and
to get latest prices please
contact the sales team.