Stepanovich Blog

Since The Borrowdale Hotel was bought in March by Lake District Hotels, some of the bedrooms have already been refurbished. Now a more noticeable transformation is about to take place under the watchful eye of Stephen Wilcock who moves from The Lodore Falls Hotel to take up his first role as General Manager.

Stephen Wilcock was Deputy General Manager at the Lodore Falls Hotel during the last four years and was instrumental in minimising disturbance for hotel guests during the £2 million pound Lodore Falls refurbishment. His move to the Borrowdale Hotel coincides with imminent plans to update the lounge, dining areas and remaining bedrooms at the hotel. Work has already started in some of the bedrooms and regular guests have given very enthusiastic praise for the work so far. The lounge will be refurbished during November - in plenty of time for Christmas and there are exciting new plans for the dining room which are due to start in the New Year.

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Saadani Game Reserve was gazetted in 1964, covering an area of some 250 sq km from the Wami River in the south to the Mligaji River in the north, with the Moshi railway line as the western boundary.

In 2003 Saadani was upgraded to become Tanzania’s latest National Park under the direction of TANAPA (Tanzania National Park Authority). Boundaries have been expanded to include land north of the Mligaji, which is an important area containing the only permanent elephant population in the area as well as sable antelope. The total protected area now covers over 1000 sq km and the TANAPA headquarters are based at Mkwaja ranch.

Saadani is geographically the closest reserve to Dar es Salaam (130km) and, even considering the present situation of no coast road, it is still a similar distance in terms of time to Mikumi National Park, the next closest wildlife destination. Construction of the coast road from Dar es Salaam is underway and once completed, this will reduce driving time to around two hours from Dar making Saadani the closest wildlife destination to Dar offering an irresistible combination of beach and wildlife viewing.

Saadani sits directly opposite Zanzibar’s Stone Town, which is located approximately 42 kilometres away. Regular flights are available from Zanzibar to Saadani and these only take about fifteen minutes.  Visitors to Zanzibar will find an excellent choice of Zanzibar hotels and most other types of Zanzibar accommodation, including villas and lodges. (more…)