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| Saadani National Park: Baobab at sunset |
Those who are keen to watch wild animals in their natural environment, know that Tanzania is a great place to visit for this purpose.
The country has some of the best known national parks in Africa. The top ones are: Ngorongoro
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| Wildlife reserves of Tanzania |
Crater, Ruaha Natl.Park, Selous Game Reserve, Serengeti Natl. Park. There are also many other reserves that are worth seeing like Arusha Natl.Park, Gombe Natl. Park (for Chimpanzee tracking), Katavi Natl.Park, Lake Manyara Natl. Park, or Tarangiree Natl. Park. Still, there exists many more.
Most people want to see the Big Five games: the African buffalo, the African elephant, the African leopard, the Black rhinoceros, and the lion.
As I was visiting Zanzibar, I chose to go to a less visited park just across the Zanzibar Channel. Saadani National Park is the only coastal park on the East coast of Africa. Elephants have been spotted on the beach in the evening.
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| Map of Saadani Natl. Park |
It was a perfect combination for a short safari in a place that would not be overcrowded. In fact, during my visit to the park, it seemed that I was the only visitor there!
The long stretch of fine powder sand beach, lined with palm trees, gives place to a mangrove area , which in turn becomes a vast grassland with acacias, baobabs and other more specific endemic trees.
The park is also crossed by a river, where it is possible to encounter crocodile, some hippos and many waterbirds.
There are lions and leopards in the park, but they are often not seen because of the vast grassland areas that hide them.
However, there are many other species to watch particularly in the early morning or evenings before sunset: lots of buffaloes, elephants, zebras or giraffes. But there are also warthogs, yellow baboons, vervet monkeys, and scores of different birds like eagles, vultures, storks, marabouts, and a colorful species of birds called the carmen honey-bee eaters. I have also spotted a few African hornbills.
The great thing about Saadani is that, since it is a less visited park, one gets the exhilarating feeling of being back to mere wilderness.
The other fine point is that the few existing lodges of the park are located on the seafront. The ocean breeze is a true relief in the evening and at night providing a natural coolness. It is interesting to know that in this coastal bush area, there are many bush babies ('galagos') – a nocturnal primate of continental Africa.
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| My bungalow at Simply Saadani Camp |
The lodge I selected to stay overnight is called Simply Saadani Camp. I had a great bungalow with a partial ocean view. The sand beach sometimes gets local people passing by of Swahili fishermen trying to catch fish.
Since this is a wild beach, it is full of torn tree-trunks and branches, which provide a strange scenery at low tide.
Christian Sorand
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| Entrance to the park |
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| A water hole |
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| The Jeep on a park track |
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| Group of African buffaloes |
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| Group of carmen honey-bees eaters |
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| Bird close-up |
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| Grassland dwellers |
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| A Baboon |
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| Group of African elephants |
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| Lone warthog |
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| Giraffes |
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| Vulture on a tree |
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| Marabout at a water hole |
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| Grassland gazelles |
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| Flying eagle |
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| A colorful bird on a branch |
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| Two antelopes (hartebeests) |
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| The beach of Simply Saadani Camp |
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| Saadani beach at low tide |
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