Saadani National Park

Saadani is a genuine rarity: the only national park in East Africa with an Indian Ocean coastline, where elephants and lions roam within sight of the beach and palm trees stand alongside acacia. A short boat safari up the Wami River reveals hippos, crocodiles and a rich variety of birdlife drifting past mangrove banks, while game drives inland cover open grassland and coastal thicket in equal measure.

Just north of Bagamoyo and within easy reach of both Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar, Saadani is the perfect way to bridge safari and beach in a single trip - a morning game drive followed by an afternoon on the sand, without a domestic flight in between. The nesting beaches here are also an important site for green and hawksbill turtles.