It’s been quite a few years since I’ve been to Mana Pools Game Reserve on the north-western border of Zimbabwe. It is perhaps one of the better known game parks in the country and is very popular “in season” which is usually taken to be June through to the end of September after which it gets too hot for most people. Situated in the Zambezi Valley it can easily get into the mid 40 degrees (Celcius). This time of year it gets into the mid 30s during the day and can be humid to boot and the bush is relatively lush after the rains. There is water everywhere so the game is more widely dispersed than in the dry season when it congregates at the pans and the Zambezi River. But it’s still worth a visit and is far from over-crowded as we discovered this last weekend.
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- Elephants, impala, mongooses and a monkey gather beneath one of the vast trees that cover the flood-plain
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- Not exactly pretty, there were lots of these crickets around and they ate just about anything; other insects, boiled potato and even each other!
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- These frogs could be found all over the lodge where we stayed. A bit like geckos, they could climb just about anywhere.
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- There was a resident pod of hippos in a pool in front of the lodge. They kept us entertained for hours.
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- The rains had been good, the bush was lush and the impala abounded. This young impala greeted us on arrival.
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- The view from the lodge looking over the hippo pool and a very small part of the Zambezi to Zambia in the background.
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- Looking over the aptly named Long Pool. It was stiff with crocodiles!
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- This colourful water monitor surprised us from beneath a water culvert
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- A dragonfly near a pond
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- A classic sunset over the Zambezi from the Mana River
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- A ground squirrel on a log.
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- The rest of the gang in the Mucheni campsite; Sybille, June, Sheldon and Gary.
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- On the road. Open plains such as this are not the norm in Mana Pools.
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- This tortoise was large and therefore very old. Unusual to see in the predatory environment of a game park
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- Zebra foal
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- Gary fishing on the small section of the Zambezi that flows past the lodge. Who cares if you don’t catch when you can look at a view like this?
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- Trees on the edge of a small plain catch the afternoon light
Zimbabwe Absurdity 
Nice to see something unspoilt
Yes, when I dropped Sybille off at the airport she said “Please make sure the tourists don’t come back!”. We were of course out of peaks season which is August – September when it is dry and the game is concentrated at the water. The remoteness of the park also helps and the less than good road but I suspect that will change once the political climate changes. So see it now!