Location: Map
Area: 1100 km2
The Saadani National Park is located in Tanzania
near the town of Saadani in the Bagamoyo District. It is Tanzania's
only national park on the Indian Ocean coast.
Geography
The park is around 100 kilometers north of Dar es Salaam and 100
kilometers south of Tanga. It is 1100 square kilometers in size and
protects tall grass savannas, short grass rangelands and mangrove
forests.
The climate in the national park is tropical.
Precipitation falls throughout the year. It rains the least in
August with around 30 millimeters. More than a hundred millimeters
of rain fall in the months of March, April, May, November and
December. The average temperature is 29 degrees Celsius, with August
being the coolest month at 25 degrees and February being the
hottest.
History
The beginnings of the national park lie
in a wildlife park founded in 1964 with an area of 250 square
kilometers. The boundaries of this park were the Mligaji River on
the north, the Wami River on the south and the railway line to Moshi
on the west. In 2005 the park was expanded and declared a national
park. It now also includes areas north of the Mligaji River, which
are particularly important for the protection of elephant and sable
antelope.
The headquarters of the new national park is the
former Mkwaja Ranch in the north of the park.
Flora and fauna
The park offers a unique combination of coastal habitats with
primary coastal and mangrove forests and savannah vegetation with
large game populations.
In the park you can see giraffe, cape
buffalo, elephant, lion, leopard, sable antelope, eland, hartebeest,
wildebeest, plains zebra, reedbuck, kudu, warthog, hyena, mongoose,
civet, serval, savannah baboon, Tanzanian colobus, Nile crocodile,
hippo and three types of duikers can be observed.
Waterfowl
such as storks, herons, kingfishers, weavers, ibis and spoonbills
make their home on the banks of the Wami River. Eagles, vultures,
rollers, bee-eaters, hornbills and hawks also live in this area.
Including migratory birds, there are 220 bird species.
Particularly interesting are also trees that are referred to as
"wandering palms" because of their up to 2 m high stilt roots. In
addition, the vegetation in Saadani National Park is largely
determined by acacia forests, which are the main source of food for
giraffes, and doum palms, which dot much of the landscape. There are
also candelabra trees and mangroves on the banks of the Wami River.
In the waters adjacent to the park, dolphins and whales can
occasionally be observed on their migration. Green sea turtles are
protected at the nearby Madete Marine Reserve.
Tourism
The
national park can be reached by charter flights from Zanzibar or Dar
es Salaam. Shuttle buses run from Dar es Salaam to Saadani in around
four hours, and in the dry season 4WDs can access the park from
Tanga and Pangani.
As some of the roads to Saadani are
impassable during the April/May rainy season, the best time to visit
is January or February and June to August.
Most visitors to
the national park come from within the country.
The
uniqueness of the park is that excursions and beach holidays can be
combined.