It’s no secret that the floodplains of Mana Pools National Park offer some of the most immersive wildlife safari anywhere in Africa. The density of game is incredible – though equal to other amazing areas – but the ability to walk among the big game species is what makes it really special. It’s not just that walking is allowed, but that it has been allowed for so long that the game is totally habituated to the shape of an upright human. This allows for close approaches and the chance to watch animals going about their lives from the unprotected, and very real, perspective of your own two feet!
This may seem unwise, but in fact, these safaris are always accompanied by a guide from the Park. Added to this, the vulnerability that you feel on foot ensures that you consider and reconsider every decision, monitor your escape routes and watch every sign from large and dangerous mammals. All in all, it’s exhilarating!
Of course, the low perspective that walking offers, and the ability to shift position just slightly to perfect a photo composition, makes for incredible images. Whether or not we find the headline species (though we always do!), lying flat on your belly in the dust, watching Africa’s wildlife at close quarters allows for great images of whatever comes along.
While in Mana Pools, I have chosen camps that explore different parts of the area; Kavinga Safaris offers the back-country waterhole-based honey-pot safari where game from all around visits the incredible low-level hide that they have in the camp. We also have access to the famous Chitake Springs area where massive buffalo herds congregate to find water in the last waterholes. We also use John’s Camp, right on the Zambezi waterfront, which gives us early and immediate access to the famous Winterthorn forests that have made Mana famous. The chance to enter the national park by boat, floating down the Zambezi from Chirundu, is a memorable start to the tour and sets the tone for what is to come.
We are also able to approach the area’s big predators too, since they have also become used to the approaches of people on foot. Lions and wild dogs are the particular targets, since the feeling of being on foot with them is unforgettable. While lions always observe us closely, wild dogs often ignore us entirely!
Our goal on safaris to this area is to make use of the stunning habitat to create images that are evocative of the unmistakable Mana Pools setting. On a daily basis, we get chances to do just this, and the results are really special.
On my most recent visit, an encounter between a pack of wild dogs and an eland with her calf left me with indelible memories. While I know that nothing like this will ever happen again, the chance that it might, or that something equally memorable may occur, keeps me going back to Mana Pools. In fact, the chance of something truly memorable, alongside the bounty that the bush brings every day, that is what keeps us all going on safari to the world’s wild areas.
