|
Palm
trees sway in a cooling oceanic breeze. White sand and blue
water sparkle alluringly beneath the tropical sun. Traditional
dhows sail slowly past, propelled by billowing white sails,
while Swahili fishermen cast their nets below a brilliant red
sunrise.
Saadani
is where the beach meets the bush. The only wildlife sanctuary
in East Africa to boast an Indian Ocean beachfront, it possesses
all the attributes that make Tanzania’s tropical coastline and
islands so popular with European sun-worshippers. Yet it is also
the one place where those idle hours of sunbathing might be
interrupted by an elephant strolling past, or a lion coming to
drink at the nearby waterhole!
Protected as a game reserve since the 1960s, in 2002 it was
expanded to cover twice its former area.
The
reserve suffered greatly from poaching prior to the late 1990s,
but recent years have seen a marked turnaround, due to a
concerted clampdown on poachers, based on integrating adjacent
villages into the conservation drive. Today, a surprisingly wide
range of grazers and primates is seen on game drives and walks,
among them giraffe, buffalo, warthog, common waterbuck,
reedbuck, hartebeest, wildebeest, red duiker, greater kudu,
eland, sable antelope, yellow baboon and vervet monkey.
Herds
of up to 30 elephants are encountered with increasing frequency,
and several lion prides are resident, together with leopard,
spotted hyena and black-backed jackal. Boat trips on the
mangrove-lined Wami River come with a high chance of sighting
hippos, crocodiles and a selection of marine and riverine birds,
including the mangrove kingfisher and lesser flamingo, while the
beaches form one of the last major green turtle breeding sites
on mainland Tanzania.
<<< Back to Tanzania
Page
|
