Saadani

Saadani National Park was established in 2005 on the eastern coast of Tanzania, facing the island of Zanzibar, and protects some 1,062 km². It is the only national park in the country that combines a savannah ecosystem with an ocean shoreline, so that here elephants and buffalo can be seen on the beach.

The park was formed by joining the former Saadani game reserve, an abandoned cattle ranch, a stretch of coastal forest and the delta of the Wami River, which crosses the area and flows into the Indian Ocean. That delta, travelled by boat, is home to hippos, crocodiles and an abundant birdlife, and its mangroves act as a nursery for fish and crustaceans for the whole coast.

The park's beaches are a nesting area for green turtles, with nest protection programmes, and Indian Ocean humpback dolphins are seen in its waters and, in season, humpback whales. Inland, the savannah and coastal forest are home to elephant, buffalo, giraffe, waterbuck and wildebeest, in populations that have been recovering after decades of poaching. On the shore stand the ruins of the village of Saadani, a former port of the nineteenth-century slave and ivory trade.