All packed we had breakfast at 7am, said our goodbyes and left at 7.30am for our 2 hour trip to the airstrip at Ndutu. We arrived just after 9.30, for our 1050 flight, and found the plane in - it had flown in the night before. The pilot said once the other 5 passengers arrived we would leave. They arrived just after 1000am and true to his word we set off, via another airstrip in the southern Serengeti to pick up passengers,for Arusha - today's picture is our plane parked at Arusha! We then took off again at 1215 for Dar es Salem via Zanzibar. We arrived in Dar at 1400ish checked in for our next flight to Sadaani - guess what via Zanzibar (2 visits today but thankfully no stay - once was enough!). There was a nice coffee shop before departures where we invested in 2 lattes each - best coffee this holiday - Vaseline for our dry lips and a book on Saadani - Tanzania's newest National Park and the only one on the coast.
Eventually we arrived in Saadani at about 1745 - after a 12 minute hop from Zanzibar to be met by Tizo, our guide, from 'Tent with a view' and John the manager who had been dropping some other guests off. We set off for our hour drive through the national park to our camp which was situated just outside the park.
Game is supposed to be scarcer here and more difficult to find - but we started well - seeing giraffe, yellow baboon, reedbuck ( they have no impala so these are the mid sized antelope), red duiker ( a new species for us) and Lichesteins hartebeest.....we also saw one of their lions, a female lying in the grass, - not often viewed as there are only 11 in the park and plenty of bush for them to hide behind.
On arrival we walked along the beach to our Banda - as we were the only guests we were in the honeymoon suite - the furthest out but very nice. Everything is made from natural, local and reclaimed materials and the power is solar - so very eco friendly and very pleasant.
We returned to the Lodge for a well balanced 5 course dinner - sounds a lot but it was just right and we wandered back along the moonlight beach quite relaxed for a good nights sleep.