Mana Pools National Park

Lots of wildlife and birdlife and excellent fishing

The Zambezi river adds so much to this scenic area and the highlight for me was watching hippos only a few meters away as the sun set.

Canoeing the Zambezi - amazing.

Flying into Mana Pools we got picked up by our guides Doug and Taps. We were soon in for our first big surprise walking on foot for about an hour down towards the Zambezi. Walking was not only great exercise but gives you an added understanding and appreciation for the landscape and wildlife.
We were surprised the following day that we were not scheduled to canoe that day as indicated in our itinerary and we were also a bit surprised that another couple joined us. We thought we had a private guide and vehicle. But it was a great day of walks and wildlife. We saw African hunting dogs and lots of cape buffalo.
The following morning we again didn't set out on the river instead going for a game drive and long walk. On the walk we saw several lions including a lioness and cubs. We kept walking to where the lions had come from and found a recent eland kill.
In late morning we set out on the Zambezi in our canoes. We had to work a little harder than expected because the wind was blowing against us and the river was quite shallow. Many times the guides and we had to get out of the canoes and push through the shallow areas.
Canoeing past hundreds of hippos and seeing the wildlife including crocodiles, elephant and amazing birds on the banks was stunning. We stopped at a nice spot for lunch on the river and canoed all afternoon arriving at our mobile tents right at sunset.
The following morning we were on the river around 8am and canoed all day stopping for lunch and to view hundreds of vultures coming in to feast on a dead hippo. Again we wound up at our mobile camp right at sunset.
The mobile camps were amazing - terrific staff and food. Sleeping on the banks of the Zambezi after all day canoeing was wonderful.
Our private guide Doug and our river guide Taps were both terrific - full of great stories. They both made our time there extraordinary.
While we had a terrific time at Mana Pools with great guides if would have been much better for us had we stuck to the plan in the itinerary? We would have liked spending our final day in a game drive and wound up in Vundu Camp the final night. We would have gotten a little more comfortable sleep before heading home (which took 43 hours door to door!). The itinerary called for 15 miles of canoeing with morning and afternoon walks and bird watching with a vehicle available. This was not the case. We canoed all day and covered twice the mileage indicated in the itinerary. This was our only disappointment the entire trip. The canoeing was wonderful but we would have liked much less time on the river each day and more time out walking or in the vehicle to break up the paddling.
Flying home - Towanda (spelling?) was our Sefofane pilot from Mana Pools back to Victoria Falls. He was by far the best we had. We flew into Caribe to refuel and Sona asked if we would see the dam after takeoff. He flew out of the way a bit and banked the plane so we could get some pictures. Then he told us if there was time and he got permission he would fly us over Victoria Falls before landing which he did. What a treat and what a wonderful guy.