Saanane Island National Park

Gazetted in 2013, Saanane sits in Mwanza Gulf, only a few hundred metres offshore from the city, and is the smallest national park in the country at 2.18 square kilometres. It began as a small zoo in the 1960s before being rewilded and protected.

It is a half-day destination rather than a safari: a short boat crossing, then walking trails among the balancing granite boulders that Mwanza is famous for, with impala, wild dog (introduced), rock hyrax, de Brazza's monkey, monitor lizards and crocodiles, plus a good list of waterbirds. For visitors passing through Mwanza on the way to the Serengeti's western corridor or Rubondo, it is an easy, low-cost stop.