Welcome to Saadan
1. Saadani National Park
1. Saadani National Park
Saadani is geographically the closest
reserve to Dar es Salaam (130km), offering an irresistible combination of beach
and wildlife viewing. Saadani also sits almost directly opposite Zanzibar’s
Stone Town, located approximately 42 km away. Flights from Zanzibar to Saadani
take just 15 minutes.
2.
Why is Saadani Special?
In
the centre of the historic triangle of Bagamoyo, Pangani and Zanzibar, Saadani
Game Reserve is one of the few wildlife sanctuaries bordering the sea. It
offers the unique combination of both marine and mainland flora and fauna in a
historically and culturally fascinating setting. Elephants have been rumoured
to bathe in the Indian Ocean off the Reserve’s coast, green turtles come to its
beaches to breed, black and white colobus monkeys frolic in the canopy of the
evergreen Zaraninge Forest. Roosevelt Sable Antelope too have their home here.
Besides game drives visitors can relax on
the beach, go on foot safaris or venture up the Wami River by boat, braving
waves and hippopotami, past crocodiles and flamingos.
The east coast of Africa has a long and
rich cultural history and Saadani has always been at the centre. It was first
mentioned in writings by Indian traders in the sixth century AD and has been an
important trading area for much of the last millennium. In the nineteenth
century, Saadani was one of the major ports on the coast and vied with Bagamoyo
for the position of trading capital.
Tourists can view animals basking along the
Indian Ocean shores. It has an area of 1062 km2 and was officially gazetted in
2005, from a game reserve which had existed from 1969. It is the only wildlife
sanctuary in Tanzania bordering the sea.
Saadani National Park is set on the Indian
Ocean Coastline and can be reached by plane or car from Dar Es Salam, or plane
or boat from Zanzibar.
3.
Wildlife
Saadani's wildlife population is increasing
during recent years after it has been gazetted as a National Park and was a
hunting block beforehand. Wildlife in Saadani includes four of the Big Five,
namely Masai lions, African bush elephants, buffaloes and African leopards.
Masai giraffes, Lichtenstein's hartebeest,
common waterbucks, blue wildebeests, bohor reedbucks, common and red duikers,
Dik-Diks, yellow baboons, vervet monkeys, blue monkeys,
black-and white Colobus monkeys, civets, ,
genet cats, porcupines, sable antelopes, warthogs, hippopotamus, crocodiles,
nile monitors are also found in the park
4.
Forests & shrubs
In
Saadani, elephants (Loxodonta africana, tembo or ndovu) are relatively shy and
usually hide during the day in woody parts of the Park. Leopards (Panthera
pardus, chui) also occur in dense bush and thickets. Seldom seen, these animals
are mainly nocturnal and can live in close proximity to humans. Other showy
animals living mostly in woody areas are the Greater kudu (Tragelaphus
strepsiceros, tandala) and smaller antelopes such as Suni (Neotragus moschatus,
paa) and Duiker (Cephalophus sp., funo). The crowns of the trees are inhabited
by Colobus monkeys (Colobus guereza, mbega) which, unlike most other monkeys,
subsist mainly on leaves, strictly nocturnal bush babies (Galagos sp., komba),
as well as many fruit-eating bird species, insects and butterflies.
Saadani National Park is also known for its
numerous giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis, twiga), the national symbol of Tanzania
and tallest animal in the world. Their tongues have special callus plates which
make them particularly well adapted to browse on spiny acacia trees.
Large herds of White-bearded wildebeests
(Connochaetes taurinus albojubatus, nyumbu) also graze in the short grass
savannas. They were released in the area in the 1970’s when the Game reserve’s
zoo, for which they were initially imported from northern Tanzania, was closed.
Other introduced species are Plains zebra (Equus burchelli, punda milia) and
Eland (Tragelaphus oryx, pofu).
The Lion (Panthera leo, simba), the largest
of the African carnivores, is also found in Saadani, although it is rarely
seen. At night you may also hear the hyenas (Crocuta crocuta, fisi) and
encounter genets (Genetta sp., kanu), porcupines (Hystrix cristata, nnungu) and
civets (Civetticis civetta, fungo).
Other species which can be observed within
the perimeter of the Park are Bushbucks (Tragelaphus scriptus, pongo), Bushpigs
(Potamochoerus porcus, nguruwe), Yellow baboon (Papio cynocephalus, nyani) or
Vervet monkey (Cercopithecus aethiopicus, tumbili).
5. How to Access Saadan Nationa Park
Travel
information
Saadani village is located roughly 45 km
north of Bagamoyo. However, in order to cross the Wami a 150 km detour has to
be made via Msata, although a bridge is planned. Dar es Salaam is at about 200
km away from Saadani village (4 hours’ drive via Chalinze). From the North you
can reach Mkwaja Headquarters from Tanga by crossing Pangani river with a ferry
(75 km / 3 hours’ drive). From here it will be another 35 km to Saadani
village.
Zanzibar is about 40 km away from the Park.
Transfer by airplane can be arranged to Mkwaja or Saadani airstrip. There is
also a daily bus connection between Dar es Salaam and Saadani village, as well
as between Tanga and Mkwaja village. In the rainy season (March–April), the
muddy roads can make travelling in the southern parts of the Park very
difficult. It is advisable to inquire about the quality of the road before
planning a trip.
6. Accommodation
TANAPA guesthouses are
available near Saadani village and at Mkwaja headquarters. Camping is allowed
at Saadani guesthouse, the Wami River (Kinyonga) and Tengwe Campsite.
Accommodation is also offered
inside the park by
and immediately
outside the park by
and
In summary, the SNP boundaries and lands
have been officially contested by District authorities and no less than 6
villages, while at least 4 adjacent villages are engaged in higher level
advocacy to have park boundaries reassessed. However, of all the villages, it
is Saadani which faces the greatest challenges on the gazetting of a large part
of its coastal territory which, by all accounts, has been done unilaterally.
Saadani is also the village with the largest strip of coastal land.
At present, and after more than a decade of
institutional struggles, Saadani village has resisted TANAPA’s various
approaches to take possession of the now sub-village’s gazetted territory and
have consistently demanded that their land rights be restored, and continue to
reiterate that they are not going to give their traditional territory for any amount
of compensation money. Such community assertions and actions certainly
challenge traditional conceptions of economic gain as the central motivation in
park community-conflicts, and suggest that deeply rooted spatial-cultural
territorial connections are as essential as and perhaps even more important to
people's collective welfare than material benefits.
To this day, park governance and management
approaches have been unable to gain the support of surrounding villages, which
traditionally have been very conservation minded, for addressing poaching and
for collaboratively sustaining landscape level conservation efforts. All of
which are desperately needed to combat the sevenfold increase in poaching
activity being faced by the park in the last seven years. No less than 10 of
the 17 villages adjacent to the park have their own community-conserved areas,
equivalent to no less than 20% of area identified as park lands. Despite the
level of environmental awareness of these adjacent villages and the importance
of corridors and ecosystem connectivity to successful ecological conservation,
the villages’ conservation efforts have not been linked to park efforts but at
present represent a threat to park authorities. For park authorities, it is
within villages’ conserved areas where more often than not poaching is seen to
be taking place.
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