Safari in Mana Pools

beautiful riverside woodlands with rich wildlife

At 2045 square kilometres, Mana Pools is a good sized national park with a lovely range of scenery and a rich mix of wildlife.

The scenery in Mana Pools is magnificent, centred on the mighty Zambezi River, whose meandering waters are responsible for depositing the unusually rich soils that line the shore, creating broad grassy floodplains and impressive stands of open mahogany and ebony forests.

The area contains excellent densities of wildlife, notably elephants, lions, leopards, spotted hyenas, hippos and crocodiles. But perhaps most excitingly, this is one of the very best locations in Africa for wild-dogs.

The area is renowned for its authentic safari camps and high quality animal interactions.

This is one of the very best locations in Africa for walking safari. Some of the guides here have been in the park for decades and have personal relationships with individual elephants and other animals.

Mana Pools is also famous for canoe safari on the Zambezi River, which can also get rather exciting at times, the resident hippos can be quite unpredictable.

Camps here tend to be relatively rustic and authentic, small personable places which tend to appeal most to a more outdoorsy and experienced safari traveller.

Private concessions

The Mana Pools area contains a number of private safari areas, including the well known Ruckomechi, Chinkwenya and Sapi concession areas.

These concessions generally contain between one and three camps, which enjoy exclusive use of their safari areas. They are also not subject to national park restrictions on off-road driving, walking safari and night vehicle safari, which can make an enormous difference to the range and quality of the overall experience.

Safari guiding

Mana Pools is renowned for having the highest level of safari guiding on the continent.

In other safari countries the vast majority of up close approaches to animals is done by vehicle. Here in Mana Pools many of the best guides simply use vehicles for finding tracks, once they find animals they like to get down and approach on foot. This often includes approaches onto potentially dangerous animals like elephants and lions.

This kind of high adrenaline safari is by no means compulsory, there’s plenty of camps which take a more conventional approach, but if you are looking for this kind of experience, then you’re in the right place.

Mana Pools is one of the most renowned safari areas in Africa, but remains relatively little-visited due to its awkward location.

The area only tends to be visited by serious safari travellers, who are prepared to jump through a few extra hoops to get here.

The usual stay duration is 3-5 nights in one camp, occasionally 5-8 nights split between two camps.

Seasonality

The best time to visit Hwange is during the May-Oct dry season, when the wildlife is focused around the waterholes and easy to find.

Within that period, May-Jul is pleasantly cool at night, but the animals may not yet be fully migrated back into water.

Towards the end of that period, Oct-Nov the wildlife should be at its strongest, but the weather is likely to be uncomfortably hot, especially at night. Bear in mind that most camps do not have air-conditioning.

Getting there

Mana Pools is usually accessed by light aircraft from Victoria Falls, Hwange or Harare.

It is also possible to drive in from Lusaka or Lower Zambezi, across the river in Zambia.

Where to stay

Mana Pools is home to around a dozen properties, which includes a handful of elegant upmarket lodges and an equivalent number of simpler and more earthy options.

The area is of particular note for containing two rare owner-guided camps, namely Goliath Tented Camp and Vundu Camp.

only operational during the May-Oct dry season