Saadani National Park

Saadani National Park

One gets to relish the palm trees as they sway in a cooling oceanic breeze. White sand and blue water sparkle alluringly beneath the tropical sun, brand Saadani is a splendid place to visit. Traditional dhows sail slowly past, propelled by billowing white sails, whilst 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 for an Indian Ocean beachfront, it as well possesses all the attributes that make Tanzania’s tropical coastline and islands very popular with European sun-worshipers. 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 in recent years a marked turnaround has been seen, due to a concerted clampdown on poachers, based on integrating adjacent villages into the conservation drive. Today, a surprisingly wide range of grazers and primates are seen on game drives and walks, among them include giraffes, buffaloes, warthogs, common waterbucks, reedbucks, hartebeests, wildebeests, red duikers, greater kudus, elands, sable antelopes, yellow baboons and velvet monkeys.

Herds of up to 30 elephants are encountered with increasing frequency, and several lion prides are inhabitants, together with leopards, spotted hyenas and black-backed jackals. Boat trips on the mangrove-lined Wami River come along with a high chance of sighting hippos, crocodiles and a selection of marine and riverine birds, including the mangrove kingfisher and lesser flamingo. The beaches form one of the last major green turtle breeding sites on mainland Tanzania.

Saadani National Park Facts

• The park offers an exceptional safari view as it the rarest combination of shoreline and Greenland.
• The park covers up an area of 1,062 sq km.
• The park is situated between Dar es Salaam and Tanga .
• The national park is the only national park that displays both the marine and mainland flora and fauna.
• The unique vegetation of the park include mangrove forests around the Wami River and Ocean, Plam trees, Coral reefs of Indian Ocean, short-tall grass savannah.
Sadani National Park offers a unique combination of wildlife viewing that includes Lions, leopards, giraffes, buffalo, warthogs, customary waterbucks, reedbucks, hartebeests, wildebeests, red duikers, increasingly important kudus, elands, sable pronghorns, yellow mandrills, and vervet monkeys as well as you can spot a good number of water animals like hippos, crocodiles, and sea dolphins.