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It has been recently
upgraded from game reserve to become the 13th National park in
Tanzania. Saadani is Tanzania's only
coastal wildlife sanctuary, the national park transformed from old
Saadani Game Reserve, Wami River Delta and the South Mkwaja Ranch,
which was bought in 1997 and donated to the Tanzanian government.
The park has now the total area of almost 1,000 sq.
kilometers. It is located 50 kilometers north of
Bagamoyo Town. Mkwaja Saadani National Park
contains a distinctive and rare habitats, (unique in East Africa) is
the beach with salt grass flats along the Indian Ocean.
At least 24 species of large
mammals are found here, including the rare Roosevelt sable antelope,
furthermore the beach areas contain one of the last significant East
African breeding beaches in for the green turtle
At the Wami River
mouth, there is large and still well preserved mangrove swamps. The
northern part, where was a cattle ranch, is dominated by coastal lowland
mosaic, presenting an exceptional variety of habitats, woodland, forest,
coastal thicket, semi-arid scrub, grassland, wetlands, salt marshes,
mangroves and beaches. this vegetation has a considerable number
of elephants, buffaloes, large antelopes, and the rare Giant brown bat.
On the coast of Indian Ocean, the park, have unique land form, which
includes several pristine sand dunes with interesting vegetation types.
The main and
much recognizable natural feature of the park is the Zaraninge Forest,
200 square kilometers (50,000 acres) of closed canopy tropical forest.
It is one of the larger coastal forests in
Tanzania, and
part of the "Eastern Arc and Coastal Forest for Kenya and
Tanzania Hotspot. The
forest dominates the western part of Mkwaja Saadani National Park. this
is a part of the park host new species of reptile (dwarf gecko),
amphibian (Hyperolius parkeri), an endemic snail and many other species
of invertebrates, 8 bird species, and large mammals.
Link:
Turtle and Dugong Conservation Programme
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African
buffaloes, zebras, giraffes, and several antelopes species and lions.
are all found in the southern portion of
the national park, which dominated by Wami
river and its delta. Mkwaja Saadani National park with its complex
ecosystem hold a large number of water birds including the greater
flamingo, high concentration of cetacean and important population of
crocodiles and hippos. For Saadani Safari
Click Here
In 1993 a Green
Turtle
Conservation
Project was
established at
Madete beach 13
km south of
Mkwaja village,
just south of
the Sima River.
Madete beach
appears to be
the preferred
hatching site
for the turtles
between Dar Es
Salaam and the
Kenyan coast.
Here for several
years a hatchery
successfully
supervised the
hatching of
young turtles
and their return
to the sea.
Though it is
best to leave
turtles to hatch
from where they
were laid, the
twice daily
collection of
the eggs under
the programme
ensured the
survival of the
young by
reducing
collection by
villagers.
Source: Baldus
et al. 2001
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