Saadani National Park
Description: One of Tanzania’s newest national parks, Saadani bills itself as one of the few spots in the country where you can enjoy the beach and watch wildlife at the same time. It’s easily accessible from Dar es Salaam as an overnight excursion and is a good choice if you don’t have time to explore further afield. To the south of the reserve is the Wami River, where you’ll probably see hippos, crocodiles and many birds, including lesser flamingos, fish eagles, hamerkops, kingfishers and bee-eaters. Wildlife-watching can’t be compared with that in the better-known national parks, animal numbers are slowly increasing now that poaching is being brought under control. You’ll also likely see giraffes, and elephant spottings are increasingly common. With more effort, you may see hartebeests and even lions, although these are more difficult to spot. The birding is also wonderful.
Things 2 Do: Game drives, Boat trips, Bush walks, Village tours
Accommodations
“Excellent planning and preparation. So many things could have gone wrong. Thanks to Access 2 Tanzania’s tireless work in paying attention to detail everything worked very smoothly. From the time we met Maningo at the airport in Kilimanjaro till we took off in a 14 seater airplane from the Serengeti plains there was not one snafu. We were greeted at every camp site by someone who knew who we were. We were given lodging instructions and checked in with out a problem. The food was very good and even though we ate salad greens no one got sick. Our driver/guide, Maningo always had bottles of water for us on game drives. Maningo washed the land cruiser every night so we never had a dirty vehicle.”