Reflection is good for the soul or so it is said. So as I lay with my wife in a hammock on the verandah of our banda, watching a family of vervet monkeys playing on the white sand, I reflected on our visit to Saadani National Park.
Saadani is the latest national park to be added to Tanzania’s already impressive portfolio and has the unique distinction of being East Africa’s only coastal wildlife reserve, offering the chance to see big game and bird life interacting with the sea.
Located 130km (79 miles) north of the capital of Dar es Salaam, between Bagamoyo and Pangani, and 27km (16 miles) from Zanzibar, Saadani is the closest wildlife reserve geographically to both tourist centers, yet the park currently receives little more than 1,000 visitors per annum.
In 2003 Saadani was upgraded from game reserve to national park status and came under the direction of TANAPA (Tanzania National Parks), a decision that will surely encourage this little visited secret to finally fulfill its potential. The park has been enlarged to now cover an area of over 1,000 sq km (400 sq. mi.) adding land south of the Wami River, the Zaraninge forest and north Mkwaja, where TANAPA has its headquarters, to the original game reserve.
Flying on the recently introduced schedule flight from Zanzibar we soared for 15 minutes over every shade of blue beneath us until we began to descend towards a small bush airstrip. As altitude decreased we began to see the movement of animals below – our first clear indication that this really is where the bush meets the beach. After a short game drive we arrived at our destination, the newly opened A Tent with a View Safari Lodge close to the center of Saadani National Park.
There is a surprisingly wide variety of safari options in Saadani. In addition to the orthodox game drives, boat safaris, walking safaris and bird watching by canoe are also possible. The main problem with Saadani is making the choice between walking along the deserted beach wondering at the Technicolor array of seashells and birdlife, watching the fishermen pulling in their catch of the famous Saadani prawns, swimming in the clear sea, relaxing in a hammock, or building the motivation to take a safari.
However, with limited time we managed to pull ourselves away from the hammock and explore the park. A boat safari on the Wami River is billed as one of the highlights of any visit to Saadani. The lodge operates this as part of a full-day game drive, combining a variety of driving routes to and from the river which is located at the southern boundary of the park.
Frequently seen game includes healthy populations of giraffe, buffalo, reedbuck, waterbuck, zebra, Liechtenstein’s hartebeest, wildebeest, warthog, baboon and a plethora of bird life. En route to the river we passed a salt works which, although an undoubted eyesore and environmentally at odds with a protected wildlife reserve, does seem to attract a great variety of bird life. A flock of flamingos made a particularly dazzling pink display against the white backdrop of the salt works.
The boat safari itself lived up to its top billing. We started by moving down towards the mouth of the river where a myriad of birds seem to gather like regulars at a saloon bar. Cormorants, egrets, yellow-billed and open-billed storks, and gray herons were particularly in evidence. As the boat then turned inland, the waders started to give way to different species and several birds of prey including fish eagles, yellow-billed kites, palm nut and white-backed vultures immediately caught the eye.
A colony of yellow weaver birds had overtaken a tree with their intricate hanging nests, and a flash of red signaled carmine bee-eaters in abundance. As we progressed though, our attention was diverted by the pods of hippo that lay in wait ahead, and we tentatively edged our way through the bobbing and snorting obstacle course. On the sand banks, pelicans displayed their wings and with a quick flash and a splash a crocodile disturbed the peace. In the trees along the riverbank we saw black and white colobus, as well as blue monkeys, before we turned round and braved the hippos once more.
An afternoon in the bush with Iddi
Back at the lodge we felt we had deserved our sundowners, and a prawn extravaganza was served up for dinner. We decided against an early morning safari in search of Saadani’s small but elusive elephant population which was departing at 5.30 the following morning and instead decided on a more leisurely start to the day.
After breakfast we spent the morning slowly ambling down the beach, occasionally stopping for a swim or to inspect a set of prints on the sand before managing to return to the lodge to eat once more. Such exertions deserved an afternoon siesta before our afternoon walking safari. From the lodge we headed inland through a coconut grove into more dense bush before emerging at some mangroves where our chariot awaited. Our guide, Iddi, helped us into the dugout canoe then smoothly paddled us along the Mafui inlet quietly pointing out the birds which frequent the mangroves and explaining the effects which the mangroves have on the Saadani ecosystem.
Just as we were being lulled into a sense of false security Iddi pulled into the riverbank and announced that from now on we were walking and we started to follow an elephant trail through the bush. For the next hour we gained an exhilarating insight into the flora and fauna of this unique environment, a very different and perhaps even more intriguing alternative to the more traditional game drive safari.
The slithering tracks of a python estimated by Iddi to be 12-15 feet long (“a baby!”), the jumbled hoof prints of a group of six waterbuck, the flattened brush where an elephant had stomped its way through (followed by a very graphic dissection of said elephant’s dung), a Bateleur eagle flying high in search of food, the tracks of a family of warthog leading to their den (apparently an old aardvark hole), the shrill alarm calls of different birds, the whistle of an acacia thorn, the fleeting glimpse of the white target of a waterbuck’s backside, weaver bird nests gently blowing in the breeze, a flock of alarmed guinea fowl desperately flapping their escape, a face off with baboons, the horned silhouette of a giraffe against the descending sun, more spoor dissections and then the ever increasing roar of the ocean signaled we had nearly come full circle until we emerged back onto the beach.
A walking safari is an exciting experience – as the realization of the unknown presence around you is emphasized by every noise, your senses become attuned to your surroundings and you gain a greater appreciation of the environment. It is also great exercise and it was only when we were back on the safety of our verandah, watching the sky change color as the sun set and drinking a cold beer, that we could truly be brave about our “walk in the park.”
Saadani’s future
Dinner on our second night was this time a lobster feast and we chatted to the lodge owner, David, about the future of this unique national park.
Saadani is one of the few places in Tanzania where green turtles return to nest every year but this leaves them prey to depredation. A green turtle hatchery is being developed to help conserve this endangered species against the human predators partial to scrambled turtle eggs, and it is hoped as the project develops to be able to bring scientific researchers to Saadani to help to monitor the populations which return every year to their favored nesting sites.
Water is also a big problem in Saadani, especially when the long rains fail to materialize, leaving the animals desperately short of water sources and thus prey to poaching. The lodge is developing a protected water source of its own and an observation tree house nearby. Whether it was the intoxication of the Saadani addiction or the bottle of fine South African wine we consumed will never be known, but we found ourselves signing up for an early “elephant safari” the next morning.
A 5:30 wake up call, followed by a hasty coffee and then we were bumping our way north towards Mkwaja, where elephants had been spotted earlier in the week. We stopped near a dam and from the large balls of dung covering the ground (“nice and fresh”) our hopes gathered that we might spot these extremely shy beasts. Alas, although we heard much trumpeting and crashing in the undergrowth, we did not actually see any elephants but were content in the knowledge that we had been so near yet so far.
As a bonus, though, on our way back to the lodge we spotted a lone male lion trying to look inconspicuous and the highlight of our whole trip was when we saw a herd of Roosevelt’s sable antelope gracefully waltzing along near the old Mkwaja ranch. The sable antelope are only found in Saadani and Selous in Tanzania, so this was an extremely privileged sighting.
The rest of the day drifted along and we began to experience the spell that the Swahili coast casts upon its visitors. The soft breeze, the lapping of the sea, monkeys on the beach, traditional fishing boats passing by, the occasional thud of a falling coconut, a set of footprints down the beach, more delicious food, crabs scuttling for their holes, waders stalking their dinner, the absolute tranquility – this is the perfect spot to relax.
Saadani is unique and undoubtedly will become yet another major attraction in Tanzania’s outstanding collection of natural wonders. With a controlled management of resources, improved infrastructure, protection of the wildlife and increased promotion, the future for Saadani National Park is looking positive.
Reflecting on all of this I can’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of well being and a strange affiliation with my natural surroundings – and that can only be good for one’s soul.
