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SAADANI NATIONAL PARK

Saadani, Tanzania's only protected coastal wildlife preserve, was gazetted as a Game Reserve in 1964, covering an area of some 250 sq km from the Wami river in the south to the Mligaji river in the north, with the Moshi railway line as the western boundary.
New species of animals such as wildebeest, zebra and eland were introduced to compliment the existing diversity which included buffalo, elephant, giraffe, lion, and the extremely rare Roosevelt's sable antelope. In 2003 Saadani was upgraded to become Tanzania's latest National Park.

Boundaries were expanded to include land north of the Mligaji (an important area containing the only permanent elephant population in the area as well as sable antelope), the Zaraninge forest noted for its variety of indigenous vegetation and animal and birdlife, and land south of the Wami river. The total protected area now covers over 1,000 sq km.  Saadani is geographically the closest reserve to Dar es Salaam (130km) and is set almost directly opposite Zanzibar's Stone Town, located just 27 km away across the Indian Ocean.

The combination of beach and big game is unique in Tanzania. Large game currently seen include giraffe, buffalo, elephant, lion, leopard, sable antelope, eland, hartebeest, wildebeest, zebra, waterbuck, reedbuck, greater kudu, warthog, hyena, mongoose, civet, serval, baboon, black and white colobus, crocodile, hippo, three species of duiker as well as a great variety of birdlife. 

Saadani is dominated by acacia woodland, coastal thickets and miombo woodland. It also protects a large area of mangrove swamps around the mouth of the Wami river on the south boundary, and includes several species of palm (including the mysterious looking 'walking palm', not actually a palm at all!). Dolphins are sometimes seen offshore and whales pass through the Zanzibar channel on their migration. Of particular interest is the green turtle project at Madete, this endangered species is under particular threat from fishing practices offshore from Saadani and a conservation project has been established to help protect both turtles and their eggs.