The Saadani Hide

My favourite way of watching Africa's game is from a hide. The one I have most enjoyed is at Saadani Lodge on the coast of Tanzania - the hide, raised well above the ground, can be seen in the background of this picture, overlooking a small artificial waterhole.

The lodge is in the Saadani Game reserve but the hide is just at the back of the lodge's restaurant and within a stone's throw of the main office and car park, so when I first sat in it I wasn't too optimistic that any of the larger game would visit the waterhole, particularly during the day.

How wrong I was! The variety of game that came to it was staggering, and it was also good for the local bird population. Warthog were frequent visitors, as were several types of buck, and I also saw....

....three species of mongoose, including this family of banded mongoose.

Sitting in comfort was ideal for photography as the game was only about thirty metres away but sometimes....

....it came a little too close for comfort. The occasional vervet monkey wasn't too bad but I sat and prayed whenever....

....baboons came to drink, which they did frequently, as they could easily have climbed the rather rickety structure.

I spent hours at the hide, often sitting there after lunch during the heat of the day, when animals aren't supposed to be active. That an old male buffalo came to drink was exciting, especially when the managers at the lodge couldn't believe that I had seen one, but my best sighting was of an African bush pig - see post here.