Saadani Birding Package - Three Nights (A Briefest Outline)
Saadani Safari Lodge [1] has been most carefully designed and constructed, within an Indian Ocean beach-crest shrubbery; so that it nestles discretely amongst low and verdant sand dunes, looking east, out over the tropical ocean.
Protected from grazing and other forms of destructive exploitation, and cared for by sensitive management, the lodge in its coastal community of delicate plants and animals, is surely a model for the twin goal of ecological health combined with social development.
Many interesting flowering plants, animals and birds, that are quite difficult to find elsewhere in coastal East Africa, are becoming ever easier to see at Saadani.
Within an hour's drive of SSL, on a low plateau, one reaches the Zaraninge coastal forest - an internationally renowned Important Bird Area - which has recently been incorporated within Saadani National Park. This evergreen forest on light sandy soils is home to many rare and interesting plants, reptiles, birds and mammals. A little-used vehicle track passes through the forest, from which one can see much of the wildlife. There is also a short forest trail that permits access to a secluded marshy area completely surrounded by beautiful near-pristine forest.
The extensive coastal palm and acacia savanna of Saadani is of course a very rich habitat, a whole ecosystem that is certainly benefiting from increased protection. Here too one can comfortably see animal and bird species that these days are becoming quite difficult to find elsewhere in Africa.
At the seashore and along the Wami River, travelling by boat, we can reach undisturbed wetland areas where there are excellent opportunities to watch and photograph a host of water and wading birds, especially during the northern winter.
Day One:
Early breakfast
0615 – an early departure for Zaraninge coastal forest (1 hour drive), where we will remain from 0730 until 1330
Afternoon either relaxing at the lodge or participate in an optional game and birding walk accompanied by a forest ranger/game guard; location will be chosen according to prevailing conditions yet within a 30 mins drive of the lodge.\n
Day Two:
Optional early morning walk 0615 – 0715 around the environs of the safari lodge.
Breakfast 0730
Boat Trip on the Wami River 0900 – 1100
1130 -1300 on the return to the lodge we will observe shorebirds and terns at the salt pans with the aid of a telescope.\n
Return to lodge for lunch.
1530 afternoon game drive to include short birding walks within 30 mins drive of lodge (different area from day three).
Evening stroll along the beach northwards or southwards (choice depends upon prevailing tidal conditions).\n
Day Three:
0615 – drive from the lodge to explore different habitats within Zaraninge coastal forest, where we will remain from 0730 until 1330.
Return to Saadani safari lodge for late lunch at 1430.\n
1530 -1800 a mini pelagic boat trip to an area of sand bars, coastal reef and mixed waters where shorebirds, terns and other seabirds congregate to roost or feed.
Day Four:
Early morning game drive and birding, after a late breakfast (0945) at 1045 we will depart\n
? (We drive northwards bound for Tides at Pangani and/or to the Usambara Mountains - Maweni or Amani).
Appendix to Outline:
Some "Special Birds" of Saadani NP (especially in the context of a Northern Circuit safari).\n
Goliath Heron, Black Heron (the umbrella fisherman), Woolly-necked Stork (common and easily observed), Dimorphic Egret, White-headed Vulture ( a species that is now being classified by Bird Life International as \'Near-threatened with Extinction\'), Southern Banded Snake Eagle (also \'Near-threatened\'), Lappet-faced Vulture (rarer still - classified as Vulnerable), Dark Chanting Goshawk, African Cuckoo Hawk, African Hobby, White-fronted Plover, Caspian Tern, Little Spotted Woodpecker, Brown-headed Parrot, Livingstone\'s Turaco, Purple-crested Turaco, Yellowbill, Bohm\'s Spinetail, Narina Trogon, Mangrove Kingfisher, eight bee-eaters including Swallow-tailed and White-throated, Brown-breasted Barbet, African Pitta, ten species of bulbul including: Tiny Greenbul of the race: rabai, Fischer\'s and Yellow-streaked Greenbul, Red-tailed Ant Thrush, Orange Ground Thrush, Spotted Ground Thrush (now classified as Endangered), Black-headed Apalis, Coastal Cisticola (a localized species), Kretschmer\'s Longbill, Forest Batis, Sokoke Pipit (another very rare species of the forest floor currently classified as Vulnerable), Little Yellow Flycatcher, Blue-mantled Crested Flycatcher, Plain-backed Sunbird (Near-threatened).