1 day Saadani from Zanzibar, in a Day
Across the channel by boat at six, a game drive and a river safari, and back on the island by evening. The mainland in a single day.
Wildlife & Coast
Saadani in Two Days
One night on a coast that is also a game park. A drive on arrival, a boat up the Wami the next morning, and back to Dar by evening.
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At a glance
- Destinations
- Saadani National Park · Wami River
- Best for
- Wildlife safari, Beach & marine
- Travel style
- Budget · Drive, Ferry/boat
- Activity level
- Easy — most of the day is spent in a vehicle or on a boat
- Best time to travel
- June to September or January to February is usually a useful window for a short Saadani stay. With only two days, wet tracks or a change to the Wami boat trip have more effect on what you can cover.
- Start and end
- Starts and ends in Dar es Salaam
Why this journey
- A game drive on the afternoon you arrive
- A morning boat safari on the Wami
- Bush and ocean within a few hundred metres of each other
- One night, at the lowest cost of any Saadani route
- An easy add-on to a few days in Dar es Salaam
Day by day
The short version of Saadani, and the one most people take. It keeps the two activities that define the place — the game drive and the river — and cuts everything else.
Day 1 — Dar es Salaam to Saadani National Park
Pickup at an agreed Dar es Salaam location, then travel to Saadani. After hot lunch at the hotel and chill out on the Indian Ocean beach, an afternoon game drive through the park.
Stay Tanapa Bandas Meals Lunch & Dinner
Day 2 — Boat safari and walking in the wilderness
An early morning game drive at 05:30, returning for breakfast. Then a boat excursion on the Wami River, described as probably the best boat safari in Tanzania, observing flocks of flamingos and abundant wildlife. After lunch, return transport to Dar es Salaam in the late afternoon.
Meals Breakfast & Lunch
Stay and travel
Camping and simple lodges or park bandas, with a cook travelling with the group.
A 4×4 with a roof hatch and a window seat for everyone, driven by your guide throughout.
Camps fill, and roads change with the rains. Where something has to change we substitute at the same level and tell you before you travel, not after.
Included and excluded
What is included
- Every activity named in the day-by-day
- Accommodation as listed, or a similar alternative if a camp is full
- Meals as noted against each day
- Transfers between the agreed pick-up and drop-off points
- Park, reserve and conservation area fees
- An English-speaking Tanzanian driver-guide
- A 4×4 with a roof hatch, or the vehicle the route calls for
- Drinking water through the day
- Government taxes
- Boat safari and transfers
- TANAPA armed ranger where the park requires one
Not included
- International flights, airport taxes and visa fees
- Travel, medical and baggage insurance
- Personal spending — drinks, laundry, telephone
- Tips for your guide and crew
- Anything not listed as included
Practical information
- Visas, insurance and tipping
- A visa is arranged before travel or on arrival. Travel and medical insurance is a condition of booking. Tipping is customary and we will suggest a range rather than set one.
Related journeys
1 day 
1 day Saadani in a Day
A fifteen-hour day: out at five, a game drive, a boat up the Wami, and back to Dar by eight. The only national park on this coast, in one push.
Wildlife
2 days Saadani from Zanzibar — Two Days
The day trip with a night in the park, which adds the walking safari and the early morning drive the single day has no room for.
Wildlife & Coast
Every route here can be changed
Tell us what you would keep, what you would drop and how long you have. We will send back a version that is yours.