Madete Turtle Beach

For many years, A Tent With A View has supported the green turtle project at Madete, although it was not always easy to monitor. In recent years, with considerable assistance from Catharine Joynson-Hicks and her ngo Seasense, the project has improved dramatically and the keen young co-ordinator Hamisi is now doing an excellent job. In 2009, a record number of nests have been found and we have had many opportunities to see young turtles hatching from the sand, particularly in July, August and September.

In March 2011 we were delighted and extremely fortunate to witness turtles hatching from eggs laid within our actual lodge grounds, much to the excitement of our guests staying with us at that time

Walking Safaris

Walking safaris in Saadani offer a unique opportunity to study animal behavior through the comprehensive trails left around the salt flats. These areas that dominate much of the coastal landscape are favoured by many animals as safe, open resting places in the night. Predators will often move into the areas following the game. Come the early morning, a foot safari can reveal interesting stories about which animals slept where and which animals were watching them intently!

Boat Safaris

Whilst we can combine a full day game drive with boat safari from the Lodge, a boat safari is best combined with a night in our exclusive seasonal camp set on the banks of the Wami River as early morning and late afternoon are the best times to explore the river.

Game Drives

Our 4×4 game drive vehicles are all custom-made for the best game viewing and photography opportunities. We offer full and half day game drives and a full day game drive can be combined with a boat safari on the Wami River.

This Tour will take you to the Historical town of Bagamoyo. The town of Bagamoyo was one of the most important trading ports on the East African coast and the penultimate stop of slave and ivory caravns travellingю The town of Bagamoyo, Tanzania, was founded at the end of the 18th century. It was the original capital of German East Africa

Bagamoyo, Tanzania, was founded at the end of the 18th century

Bagamoyo’s history has been influenced by Arab and Indian traders, the German colonial government and Christian missionaries.

Day 1; Dar-es-Salaam – Bagamoyo
Morning, depart from Dar es Salaam city center to Bagamoyo. On arrival, visit the Kaole Ruins, ruins of the Shirazai trade town (13th- 17th century). Then visit the crocodile farm, where crocodiles are kept before being shipped aboard. Lunch at Bagamoyo Resorta. Dinner and overnight at Paradise Holiday Resort

Day 2; Bagamoyo
After breakfast, visit the historical sites including the Caravan Serai, an old terminus of the caravans coming from the interior to the shore of the Indian Ocean; the Catholic Church, started in 1868 with the Livingstone power where Livingstone rested for one night before his body was shipped to Zanzibar; cemeteries with 47 tombs of early missionaries; German building such as Old Boma and the Customs House; and salt processing units. Meals and overnight at Paradise Holiday Resort

Day 3; Bagamoyo /Dar-es-Salaam
Morning at leisure on the beach. Lunch at Paradise Holiday Resort. After lunch, drive back to Dar es Salaam and drop off in the city centre.

Package Include / Excludes : Prices include:
Accommodation and meals as stipulated on each itinerary
Ground transportation with an English speaking driver/guide or naturalist guide
Game drives or sightseeing depending on the itinerary � where indicated
Park or reserve entry fees  where applicable
Olduvai museum visit  where applicable

Prices exclude:
Airport or border transfers unless stated otherwise on the itinerary
Tips
Inoculations and personal insurance
Any internal flights and departure taxes (with Tanzania)
International flights and departure taxes
Optional activities and excursions
Items of personal nature such as beverages, telephone, postage etc

Depart early in the morning heading to Bagamoyo Town, north of Dar es Salaam for a visit to the historical buildings, a slave port, Coral Mosques at Kaole, graves and other things dated to the 13th century, the old ferry at the great Wami River, reminders of the slave trade: Shackle rings, Stone pens

Lunch at Paradise Beach Hotel, then return to Dar late afternoon.

Places to visit:

Kaole ruins:The oldest ruins of an Islamic mosque in the region, stemming from the 13th century, a few km south of Bagamoyo near Kaole, possibly the oldest mosque on mainland of East Africa at all.

The Bagamoyo Church: It was was built in 1868 and considered to be the first church in East Coast of Africa . A cemetery, where the early missionaries were buried and a small shrine which was built by freed slaves in 1876 are all seen. “We are told that between 1934 and 1991, 35 Dutch priests worked here” The last of this long line of priests from the Netherlands was Father Frits Versteijnen who stayed in Bagamoyo for 30 years and started the first museum in the old Fathers’ House in March 1968.

The second Fathers’ House in Bagamoyo, constructed close to the Mother of all Churches in East Africa, has also fallen victim to the corrosive effects of the coast region’s relentlessly humid climate. Its ground floor was built in 1873, the first floor in 1877 and the second floor in 1903.

Boma: Built in 1895-1897 as residence and offices for the German colonial governor. In 1998 the roof collapsed and pulled the balcony down during the El Nino rains. The building is up to now fascinating but highly in danger.

Chuo cha Sanaa. (College of Arts): Is the only major arts college in the Tanzania, teaching various fields: dancing, music, drama and painting. It is situated along the Kaole road, close to Kaole ruins. During the weekends student give free performances allowing visitors to acquaint themselves with traditional dances. It is also possible to learn to play various local music instruments with the college, but this has to be arranged and negotiated in advance.

Bagamoyo Museum: It is a small museum, which displays Bagamoyo history in relation to its contact with foreigners. It has old photographs, documents and relics from slave trade. On the same compound there is a small chapel know as Anglican church of Holly Cross. The church is famous for being a place where the remains of David Livingstone were laid before taken to Zanzibar en route to Westminster abbey for burial.

Dar es Salaam (“harbour of peace”), formerly Mzizima, is the largest city in Tanzania. It is also the country’s richest city and a regionally important economic centre. Dar es Salaam is actually an administrative province within Tanzania, and consists of three local government areas or administrative districts: Kinondoni to the north, Ilala in the centre of the region, and Temeke to the south. The Dar es Salaam Region had a population of 2,497,940 as of the official 2002 census. Though Dar es Salaam lost its official status as capital city to Dodoma in 1974 (a move which was not complete until 1996), it remains the centre of the permanent central government bureaucracy and continues to serve as the capital for the surrounding Dar es Salaam Region.

Once an important port and trading post on the Indian Ocean, Kaole turned into ruins when the town was abandoned. What remains now are some fascinating ruins of two mosques and graves – and an old baobab tree.
After a visit to the nearby crocodile farm, the driver I had arranged in Dar es Salaam parked our car under a tree at the entrance of Kaole ruins. I bought a ticket, not just for myself, but also for the driver, as he had never visited Kaole himself. Right at the entrance, we walked up to the remains of a 13th century mosque. Made of grey coral stone, it was easy to recognize the structure, the stairs leading up to the spot where calls for prayers were once made five times a day, and after walking through the entrance, the layout of the mosque was still very clear. I inevitably wondered what the mosque would have looked like when it was operational. This is supposedly one of the oldest mosques in East Africa.

Bagamoyo was recently designated as Tanzania’s seventh world heritage site and is the oldest town in Tanzania. Bagamoyo’s history has been influenced by Arab and Indian traders, the German colonial government and Christian missionaries. Although Bagamoyo is no longer the busy port city that it once was, Tanzania’s Department of Antiquities is working to revitalize the town and maintain the dozens of ruins in and around Bagamoyo.

Bagamoyo was the major slave trading post in East Africa. Bagamoyo, which means ‘lay down your heart’ in Swahili, was probably given this name because Bagamoyo was the last place the slaves would stay in Tanzania before being shipped off to foreign lands. Although the slave trade officially ended in 1873, slaves continued to be sold and traded in Bagamoyo through the end of the nineteenth century.

During the slave trade, it was not uncommon to see hundreds of slaves walking through the streets of Bagamoyo chained together by the neck. Slaves were collected from the interior by capture, purchase or trade and then shipped to Zanzibar or Arab countries.

Size: 1,100 sq km

Palm trees sway in a cooling oceanic breeze. White sand and blue water sparkle alluringly beneath the tropical sun. Traditional dhows sail slowly past, propelled by billowing white sails, while Swahili fishermen cast their nets below a brilliant red sunrise.

Saadani is where the beach meets the bush. The only wildlife sanctuary in East Africa to boast an Indian Ocean beachfront, it possesses all the attributes that make Tanzania’s tropical coastline and islands so popular with European sun-worshippers. Yet it is also the one place where those idle hours of sunbathing might be interrupted by an elephant strolling past, or a lion coming to drink at the nearby waterhole!

Protected as a game reserve since the 1960s, in 2002 it was expanded to cover twice its former area. The reserve suffered greatly from poaching prior to the late 1990s, but recent years have seen a marked turnaround, due to a concerted clampdown on poachers, based on integrating adjacent villages into the conservation drive.

Today, a surprisingly wide range of grazers and primates is seen on game drives and walks, among them giraffe, buffalo, warthog, common waterbuck, reedbuck, hartebeest, wildebeest, red duiker, greater kudu, eland, sable antelope, yellow baboon and vervet monkey.

Herds of up to 30 elephants are encountered with increasing frequency, and several lion prides are resident, together with leopard, spotted hyena and black-backed jackal. Boat trips on the mangrove-lined Wami River come with a high chance of sighting hippos, crocodiles and a selection of marine and riverine birds, including the mangrove kingfisher and lesser flamingo, while the beaches form one of the last major green turtle breeding sites on mainland Tanzania.