Mana Pools

Mana Pools in Zimbabwe is one of the few areas where you can photograph on foot among elephants, lions, hyenas, leopards, African wild dogs, hippos, baboons and large buffalo.

So we can lie down on the ground to get a better background.

We park the jeep at the free campsite down by the Zambezi River. We saw some lions in the area in the morning, and since it's been hot during the day, we assume the lions haven't been doing much other than what felines usually spend most of the day doing - sleeping. They should still be in the area. After a few hundred meters of walking, we spot them - a male lion in the company of a female. They are still resting. We walk in single file, and when we are about a hundred meters from the pair, we settle down. We wait for reactions. The male lion looks up but neither of the lions seems to mind our presence. Carefully we continue forward, first slightly bent over. Then we lie down and crawl forward. We stop constantly and check for signs that either of the lions would be uncomfortable with our presence.

After a while, the photography distance is perfect, the background is a wonderful forest environment with open clearings. We lie still on the ground, with our telephoto lenses aimed at the lion pair. After a while, the female gets up and starts moving around the male to get him going. It's clearly mating season, the male who has probably performed his work quite a few times in the past day is hard to wake and moderately interested. But after a while he gets up when the female starts moving away from there. The female has achieved her purpose, she goes back and lets her head caress the male and then entices him to come with her. The male no longer seems to be as hard to persuade...

Four pools, that's roughly how you can translate the name Mana Pools. The area got its name from the four permanent water bodies formed by river channels that have been cut off through millennia of sedimentation.

Mana Pools National Park in Zimbabwe has been on UNESCO's World Heritage List since 1984. The area is a real gem for both safari travelers and photographers. The national park itself covers approximately two thousand five hundred square kilometers, and the area was saved thirty years ago from the government's plans to create a dam and a large hydroelectric plant here, which would have resulted in large parts of the area being submerged.

Mana Pools is one of the few places in eastern and southern Africa that offers a truly classic safari. Here we walk freely in the area (but for longer distances we use the jeeps). Mana Pools is an area where photographers return year after year.

Encounters with the large elephants, wild dogs, lions and other animals occur on foot, in other words. This means a photographic freedom that is rare today.

Some of the largest elephants are known for standing on their hind legs to reach the vegetation of the taller trees, during the trip in October 2018 we also found a fifth one, a youngster of 15-20 years who also stands on his hind legs.

Furthermore, Mana Pools is an unusually beautiful place, it is mostly open ground where you can easily move around on foot but with large baobab trees (also called monkey bread trees or upside-down trees), fig trees, ebony and mahogany forest. The national park is also known for the special bluish light that is often created far away in the forest background. Overall, Mana Pools is an area where you are fascinated by the landscape, alongside more inaccessible areas with dense bushes, large open spaces and massive trees - and an abundance of wild animals.

Most of the year you encounter wild dogs, lions and other animals, but the large elephants and the African buffalo that you often see in herds come mainly during the dry period, from early August to the end of November. The rhinos have long been extinct here, unfortunately, but for a photographer this is outweighed by the incredible remaining wildlife.

Rich birdlife can be found at the various water bodies, and several species of bee-eaters nest along the banks of the Zambezi River. In early October, several water bodies usually dry up, fish and other food then become extremely accessible, birdlife can go completely crazy around these drying waters.

We mainly use the jeep to move longer distances. The actual photography, however, takes place 80-90% on foot. We run a smaller group.

We also usually photograph lions from ground level. When we move on foot, we have very knowledgeable guides with us. The guides are armed for our safety, but the two guides we usually work with have not needed to use these firearms in Mana Pools. (But that's why it's so important to do as the guides say.)

Just a couple of meters from our tent camp, we look straight down into the water of the Zambezi River. Even here it teems with crocodiles and hippos. A young hippo went for several years and slept between the tents to be protected from the lions in this way. Since he had been a regular guest, he had naturally been given a proper name: George (or Hippo). Now George is sexually mature and you only see him visit the camp sometimes.

Beyond the river that forms the border with Zambia, high mountains can be glimpsed, which provide a fantastic background if you manage to isolate an elephant or other animal against it.

We live in the middle of the national park, a few meters from the Zambezi River. All night you can hear the hippos down in the river, although you usually don't hear much because night sleep here is usually incredibly good.

We have no mandatory canoe trips, but from 2024 these will be operated. We don't book anything in advance, we must be sure that these can be carried out safely.

During the day it can happen that elephants bathe in mud right outside, the rest between safari tours thus means photography right at the camp for those who want and have the energy. And there's every reason to have the energy for it, there have been quite a few good pictures for my own part.

With reservation for typos/misspellings.

Also see a short video below from the latest trip, filmed with a simple DJI Action cam.

PARTICIPANT ON THE TRIP IN OCTOBER 2024:

"Mana Pools is perhaps for the slightly more adventurous traveler. Here you are offered the authentic safari feeling with the forest, lakes and Zambezi River as a delicious framing. Thanks to being allowed to leave the car together with a licensed guide, you get the opportunity for pictures that would otherwise have been very difficult to take. The accommodation, with the tent camp set up right next to the Zambezi River, is very good."

In the area there are packs of the rare and endangered African wild dog, we usually have great opportunities to photograph the wild dogs at relatively close range.

We are in Mana Pools - at the right time, in the right place, with the right conditions.

We have chosen mid-October as the optimal time for our trip to Mana Pools - one of Africa's most iconic places for photographing wild animals on foot. Our planning is adapted to the animals' natural behaviors, especially with regard to one of Africa's most charismatic predators: the wild dogs. At this time of year, the wild dogs have most certainly left their denning areas. Since they need access to water during the hot season, they seek their way down to the Zambezi River - in October we have often had them where our tent lodge, Mana River Camp, is located. For some years, the packs have lingered in their dens until early October. October therefore provides slightly more secure conditions for close contact and better photography opportunities.

We rent the entire Mana River Camp but have chosen to bring a maximum of 8 participants (in addition to Fokus's own guides). This means:

• Better photo opportunities for each participant, both on foot and in the jeeps.

• More space and freedom during walking safaris, which is a central part of the experience in Mana Pools.

Walking safaris require that we move as a compact unit, close to our guides. A smaller group provides good dynamics, experience and results - especially for serious photographers.

Despite paying for the entire lodge, we distribute the cost among fewer people. The price becomes slightly higher than if we ran a larger group.

The trip is for you who are a serious photographer who wants to come along to Mana Pools in a group with dedicated photographers.

Hippos lying in mud, among green leaves or spraying water towards dusk. At a special place we take backlit shots in the warm late light just before sunset.

We are such a small group that everyone can come along to the wild dogs.

In addition to wild dogs, lions and many elephants at this time, Mana Pools offers rich birdlife at water bodies and several species of bee-eaters, including carmine bee-eaters, along the banks of the Zambezi River.