Mana Pools

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

This means 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 have seen a few lions nearby in the morning, and since it has been hot during the day, we assume the lions haven't done much more than what cats usually spend most of the day doing: sleeping. They should still be in the area. After a few hundred metres' walk 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 metres from the pair we settle down. We await their reactions. The male lion looks up, but neither lion seems to care about our presence. Carefully we continue forward, at first slightly stooped. Then we lie down and crawl forward. We stop constantly and check for signs that either lion might be uncomfortable with our presence.

After a while the shooting distance is perfect, the background is a wonderful forest setting with open glades. 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 rouse him. It is quite obvious that it is mating season; the male, who has probably done his job quite a few times over the past day, is hard to wake and only moderately interested. But after a while he gets up as the female begins to move away. The female has achieved her aim; she goes back and lets her head caress the male and then entices him to follow her. The male no longer seems quite so hard to persuade …

Four pools, roughly how the name Mana Pools can be translated. The area got its name from the four permanent pools of water formed by river channels cut off over the millennia through sedimentation.

The Mana Pools National Park in Zimbabwe has been on UNESCO's World Heritage List since 1984. The area is a true gem for safari travellers and photographers alike. The national park itself covers about two thousand five hundred square kilometres, and thirty years ago the area was saved from the government's plans to create a dam and a large hydroelectric power plant here, which would have meant that large parts of the area would have been 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 to which photographers return year after year.

The encounters with the great elephants, the wild dogs, the lions and other animals thus take place on foot. This means a photographic freedom that is rare today.

Some of the largest elephants are known to rise up on their hind legs to reach the vegetation of the taller trees; during the trip in October 2018 we also found a fifth, a youngster of 15–20 years that also rises up on its hind legs.

In addition, Mana Pools is an unusually beautiful place; it is for the most part open land where it is easy to 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 thickets, large open spaces and immense trees – and an abundance of wild animals.

For most of the year you encounter wild dogs, lions and other animals, but the great elephants and the African buffalo that you often see in herds come above all during the dry season, from the beginning of August to the end of November. The rhinos have long since been wiped out here, unfortunately, but for a photographer this is outweighed by the incredible remaining wildlife.

A rich birdlife is found at the various pools, and several species of bee-eater nest along the banks of the Zambezi River. In early October several pools usually dry up, fish and other food then become extremely easily accessible, and the birdlife can go completely wild around these drying waters.

We mainly use the jeep to move longer distances. The actual photography, on the other hand, takes place 80–90% on foot. We run a small group.

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

Just a couple of metres from our tent camp we look straight down into the water of the Zambezi River. Here too it teems with crocodiles and hippos. For several years a young hippo went in and slept between the tents in order to be protected from the lions. Since he had been a regular guest, he had of course been given a proper name: George (or Hippo). George is now sexually mature and is only seen visiting the camp occasionally.

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

We stay in the middle of the national park, a few metres from the Zambezi River. All night long you can hear the hippos down in the river, though you usually don't hear much because the night's sleep here tends to be incredibly good.

We have no compulsory canoe trips, but from 2024 these will be conducted. We don't book anything in advance; we have to be sure that these can be carried out safely.

During the day it may happen that the elephants bathe in the mud just outside, so the break between the safari trips means photography right at the camp for those who want to and have the energy. And there is every reason to muster the energy for it, as quite a few good pictures have come from there for me personally.

Subject to typos/writing errors.

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

PARTICIPANT, THE TRIP IN OCTOBER 2024:

"Mana Pools is perhaps for the slightly more adventurous traveller. Here you are treated to the genuine safari feeling with the forest, the pools and the Zambezi River as a delightful setting. Thanks to being allowed to leave the vehicle together with a licensed guide, there is the opportunity for pictures that would otherwise have been very difficult to take. The accommodation, with the tent camp set up right beside the Zambezi River, is very good."

In the area there are packs of the rare and threatened 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 wildlife photography on foot. Our planning is adapted to the animals' natural behaviours, 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 head down towards 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 offers slightly more reliable conditions for close contact and better photographic opportunities.

We rent the entire Mana River Camp but have chosen to bring a maximum of 8 participants (in addition to FocusRAW'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.

Even though we pay for the entire lodge, we spread the cost over fewer people. The price ends up a little higher than if we ran a larger group.

This trip is for you who are a serious photographer wanting to join us to Mana Pools in a group of dedicated photographers.

Hippos lying in mud, among lush leaves or spraying water against the dusk. At a special spot we shoot backlit images 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 a rich birdlife at the pools and several species of bee-eater, including the carmine bee-eater, along the banks of the Zambezi River.