The Mainland
My Safari
Call a specialist to talk about The Mainland now.
This website is specifically designed to introduce the Island of Zanzibar, with its glorious stretches of beach and wealth of other activities.
However if you only have a night or two to spare, and perhaps have an early morning outbound flight from Dar, you might not wish to go to the trouble of getting over to the island.
Hence we thought that it might be useful, for completeness, to list a number of mainland beach locations, within easy reach by road or boat from Dar, that could be chosen instead.
Indeed, if you were to travel very slightly further, to Tanzania's 'hidden gem' - the small but delightful Saadani National Park - you can combine, say, a morning's quite excellent game viewing, with an afternoon spent on a pristine Indian Ocean beach: the very best of 'Beach and Bush'. For further details of mainland activities visit our Tanzania website, or, for Saadani in particular, click on the 'Other Information' tab, below.
Wildlife Highlights in Saadani:
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Elephant
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Leopard
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Lion
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Buffalo
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Giraffe
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Zebra
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Hippo
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The green sea turtle can also be found here - evidenced by the existence of its eggs laid on the beaches.
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In fact a surprisingly wide range of grazers and browsers is seen on game drives and walks, among them the common waterbuck, reedbuck, hartebeest, wildebeest, red duiker, greater kudu, eland, the rare Roosevelt sable antelope, yellow baboon and vervet monkey.
The best game-viewing is in January and February and from June to August
Getting to Saadani:
Saadani is located on the north coast of Tanzania, roughly 100km northwest of Dar es Salaam as the crow flies, and a similar distance southwest of the port of Tanga. It is a not very exciting 4 hour drive from Dar, but can also be reached by means of a one hour flight from there.
Saadani is generally accessible all-year round, but the access roads are sometimes impassable during April and May.
Boat trips on the mangrove-lined Wami River come with a high chance of sighting hippos, crocodiles and a selection of marine and riverine birds, including the mangrove kingfisher and lesser flamingo.
Game drives and walking safaris complete the picture of activities that are available, but the true appeal of Saadani is of course that its access to a beautiful stretch of beach coast line means that 'masterly inactivity' is an equally appealing option.
If you get really bored, then you can also visit Saadani fishing village, which lies within the reserve, where a collection of ruins pays testament to its 19th century heyday as a major trading port.
