Saadani National Park — is the only Tanzanian Park with a coastal boundary, offering a radically different African safari experience by reason of the variety of habitats to be found in this 1100 square kilometers (425 square miles) of unspoiled wilderness situated on the East Coast of Tanzania. The climate is humid and hot. The terrain ranges from tropical forest to swamp, lake, river, long and short grassland, black cotton soil, salt flats, mangrove forest, shallow lagoons, sandbanks and coral reefs. Zaraninge Forest is listed under the Coastal Forest Biodiversity Hotspot of Tanzania, with a vast range of flora and a population of small and mid-size mammals including elephant shrews, dormice, mongooses, bush squirrels, primates, wildebeests, zebras and wide-ranging antelopes which eat the grass, plants, worms and insects which form the base of a food chain supplying snakes, birds of prey such as kites and eagles, and carnivores, particularly lion and leopard. Short grasslands, studded with spiny acacia trees and baobabs support ostriches, buffaloes and the gawky giraffes, emblem of Tanzania. Tall grass and tropical forest shelter huge elands and the extraordinary white bearded wildebeests. Note that eland, wildebeest and zebra were reinstated in Saadani. It is planned to add rhinos and impalas to the conserved population to attract more discerning visitors on a nature and seaside tour in eastern Tanzania. Nocturnal animals that often visit human settlements include cat-like civets, genets and bushbabies. Crested porcupines and honey badgers are sometimes seen.
The Wami River is home to hippopotamus and to crocodiles up to five meters long, attended by fearless, tooth-picking egrets. Hundreds of water-birds, including goliath herons and pink lesser flamingos, present a treasure trove for birders together with scarlet-beaked mangrove kingfisher, Pel’s fishing owl and the raucous, omnipresent African fish eagle. In brackish water, where rivers meet the Indian Ocean, forests of mangroves, with air roots to enable them to survive in salt water, retain rich river-borne soil. They provide nurseries for succulent giant prawns and other shellfish as well as shelter for birds, bats and reptiles. Many fish species breed in the coral reefs close to Mafui sandbanks. Dolphins play and humpbacked whales have been seen out to sea. Air breathing green turtles, named for the color of their fat rather than their carapaces, swim in the clear lagoons and emerge to lay their eggs in the sun-warmed, silver sand. The stunning beaches, strewn with fantastic natural sculptures of bleached driftwood, are uncovered at low tide, forming a night-time highway for elephants, varied antelopes, lions, warthogs and vervet monkeys. You may see their footprints on the sand or salt pans in your early morning game-spotting safari in Saadani. There is also a chance of finding newly hatched turtles flippering their way towards the sea.
There are so many things to do and to see on a Saadani exploratory safari that you will have to return to cover the things you missed on a shorter stay or to simply re-experience it. Opportunities to relax include sandbank picnics, bush dinners, campfire sundowners, in-spa massages, yoga and meditation or simply dreaming in a hammock as the sun sparkles on the azure sea. More active souls might swim in the warm, shallow lagoons or snorkel amongst the bright denizens of fantastic coral reefs. The culturally minded can vary their Africa experiential tour with visits to historical sites, cultural villages, attend ethnic dances and consult a witch doctor! Guided beach walking quests teach you to read the events of the night in tracks in the sand, where elephants have walked in the moonlight or antelopes have fled from pursuing predators. Boat safaris in canoes, motor boats or dhows on sea or river are piloted by experienced guides who will sail you down the palm-forested coast, introduce you safely to the riverside haunts of hippos and crocodile, take you for bird-watching forays through an enchanted forest, rich with rainbow painted parrots, jewel-like weaver birds and prehistoric hornbills, or punt you through mangrove swamps alive with the calls of birds and monkeys, where you may spot folded bats hanging from the branches or even the coconut tree-climbing crabs. The scream of a hunting fish eagle or clattering of a wooly necked stork will haunt your dreams.
Unmissable game drives, in jeeps designed for open-sided all round viewing in shaded comfort with tired seats, 2-way radio communication and onboard drinks and snacks will convey you and your enthusiastic guide through the park, in pursuit of memorable cameos of wildlife encounters. Experience the bizarre giraffe at Saadani, featured in ancient cave paintings, always stands, even when sleeping and giving birth. A baby giraffe tumbles six feet to the ground. Without the rete mirabile, a network of capillaries, in its neck to help blood travel to the brain, the giraffe would lose consciousness each time it splays its long legs and lowers its 200 kilo neck to drink. Walking or galloping on its dinner-plate hooves, it covers 15 feet at each stride. On most wildlife trips in Saadani with BookmySafary.com, you are almost certain to spot the big four, as well as a selection of ungulates: greater kudu, looking as if they are wearing striped horse-blankets across their flanks, and gentle suni antelope, plump and small with pointed nose, and males having raked back needle sharp horns range, together with tiny, endearing red duiker and Roosevelt’s sable, smaller and more rufous than its stalwart chestnut cousin, with deep-threaded backward arching horns. Buffalo, waterbuck and yellow baboon are also common on roadside grassland, whilst colobus monkeys chatter from the tops of date and coconut palms.
