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 shaggy-coated aquatic sitatunga, elsewhere the most elusive of
antelopes, is remarkably easily observed, not only in the papyrus
swamps it normally inhabits, but also in the forest interior. Birds
are everywhere. Flocks of African grey parrots – released onto the
island after they were confiscated from illegal exporters – screech
in comic discord as they flap furiously between the trees.
The azure brilliance of a malachite kingfisher perched low on the
reeds competes with the glamorous, flowing tail of a paradise
flycatcher as it flits through the lakeshore forest. Herons, storks
and spoonbills proliferate in the swampy lake fringes, supplemented
by thousands of Eurasian migrants during the northern winter.
Wild jasmine, 40 different orchids and a smorgasbord of sweet,
indefinable smells emanate from the forest.
Ninety percent of the park is humid forest; the remainder ranges
from open grassland to lakeside papyrus beds.
A number of indigenous mammal species - hippo, vervet monkey, genet
and mongoose - share their protected habitat with introduced species
such as chimpanzee, black-and-white colobus, elephant and giraffe,
all of which benefit from Rubondo's inaccessibility.
SAADANI NATIONAL PARK