Saadani
National Park · TANAPA
The only park in East Africa where the bush runs down to an ocean beach.
- Area
- 1,062 km²
- Established
- 2002
- Region
- Pwani and Tanga regions
- Best time
- June–February
Wildlife
- Elephant
- Giraffe
- Hippo
- Crocodile
- Green turtle
- Colobus monkey
Saadani is the one place on this coast where elephant tracks cross a beach. Gazetted in 2002 from an older game reserve and surrounding land, it is the only national park in East Africa fronting the Indian Ocean, and the combination is genuinely strange to see: savanna, coastal forest, mangrove, and then surf.
The Wami River runs through the southern end, and boat trips up it are the reliable way to see hippo, crocodile and a great deal of birdlife, with mangrove closing in on both banks. Green turtles nest on the beaches. Offshore, the water is part of the same system that makes Zanzibar's reefs.
Game density is lower than the big inland parks — this is not where you come for a first safari. What it offers is a short, easy trip from Dar es Salaam or a natural stop between the coast and Zanzibar, in a landscape that exists nowhere else in the region. The village of Saadani itself was a slaving and trading port in the nineteenth century, and there are remains of it.
Wami River boat trip
Hippo, crocodile, mangrove and kingfishers. The best few hours in the park.
Elephants on the beach
Uncommon, not guaranteed, and unforgettable when it happens.
Green turtle nesting
On the park's beaches, seasonally and under supervision.
Saadani village
Remains of a nineteenth-century trading and slaving port.
Around four hours by road from Dar es Salaam, or a short flight. Also reachable from Bagamoyo.
Covers the drive out and back, and the guide's travelling time.
Checked against
- Tanzania National Parks — official siteTANAPA
- Saadani National ParkWikipedia