This tiny island-bound national park offshore of the port city of Mwanza offers an introduction to the common birds and reptiles associated with Lake Victoria.
Gazetted as a 2.2-square-kilometre national park in 2013, Saa Nane is a small, rocky island in Lake Victoria – the world’s second-largest freshwater body – within eyeshot of, and an easy boat ride from, the bustling port city of Mwanza.
The island was set aside for wildlife in the 1960s, initially for rare species that were later released onto Rubondo Island, then as little more than a zoo, and a rather dispiriting one at that. Thankfully, most of the captive wildlife is gone, and the indications are that the island is now to be recreated as a centre for Conservation and Wildlife Education.