Saadani National Park

Bush, beach and wide open river - a perfect combination

Saadani was the first time I'd experienced a real safari. I'd been to Tanzania before and was bewitched by the place, but I hadn't actually made it properly out into the bush on the first visit. This time, it was going to be different.

The park had recently been upgraded from a Game Reserve at the time, so wasn't very developed as a destination. However, that made for perfect conditions.

The road in was clearly under water during the rainy season, but we arrived at a time that it was passable, finding our way by buffalo skull signposts. The lodge that awaited us was set in the bush and very welcoming, stylish and comfortable without being ostentatious, and the huts we stayed at were set on the beach. Having arrived in from Tokyo, the wafting breeze of the Indian Ocean and a long sandy beach with no-one else on it was the perfect tonic. Apparently, elephants would sometimes come down and frolic in the surf.

If there was anything I could have changed about the visit, I'd have drunk a little less in the evenings and awoken at the crack of dawn to get a better look at the wildlife. With fine food and hospitality, this was a difficult thing to do! However, given that most of the animals try and stay out of the sun in the heat of the day, we saw plenty. It's always going to be difficult for a giraffe to hide much.

What was the best thing about it? The ability to combine a bush safari, a river safari and a beach holiday all in one place. Would I go to Saadani again? If only I could!

What an awesome place: on one side you get the ocean's beauty on the other side the real savannah and giraffes with wildhogs wandering around.