Walking with Giants in Mana Pools

Classic Mana Pools.

From MalaMala, we set off for Mana Pools. July 15th was a full travel day. We had breakfast at 6a.m. and met our same photo guide at 8:30a.m. to go to the airport for our 10:55a.m. flight to Harare. After checking our bags and going through customs and security, we headed to a coffee shop to wait for boarding to begin. I had a yummy watermelon raspberry fizz (essentially carbonated water but better). I also did a little airport shopping damage. Years ago, I bought a t-shirt with elephants on the neckline in a shop at O.R. Tambo. I was able to find the same shop, and of course looked for the same shirt as mine is getting old. Unfortunately, they didn’t still have it but we bought some other goodies: beaded salt and pepper shakers, a beaded picture frame, and a beaded bracelet for my mom. Many people in Africa wear one beaded bracelet on their hand at all times. I got one in Botswana, but the Botswana one was too big for my mom so she didn’t get one there. She was able to find one in the airport, though, and we proceeded to the bookstore to try to track down one very specific book for me. My favorite author writes books set in various African countries and had just released a biography in collaboration with a general focused on anti-poaching efforts in Kruger. I was able to find it in the bookstore, and of course bought it even though I could've purchased it from the U.S. later on. We boarded our nearly two-hour flight to Harare, had our vaccination cards checked right at the gate as we landed, proceeded through immigration where we were issued a visa, and collected our bags. We walked outside to the domestic terminal where we met our pilot, paid our airport taxes, went through security, and walked to our plane... one of the smallest planes you’ve ever seen: a Cessna 206 Turbo Centurion. 

Pic taken by our photo leader.

Loading up!

Our plane fit only three people in addition to our pilot. We had a nearly two-hour flight to Mana West airstrip, flying over the mighty Zambezi as we approached the runway. 

Our first glimpse of the Zambezi.

Heading inland to land.

Located in northern Zimbabwe, the Zambezi River makes Mana Pools National Park one of Zimbabwe's most lush regions. The area was proclaimed as a national park in 1963 and the landscape consists of floodplains, forests, and baobab trees. It's a UNESCO World Heritage site and Important Bird Area known for guests' good chances of seeing elephants, wild dogs, and lions. Here, you have plenty of wildlife viewing options: canoe trips, guided walks, game drives, river cruises, bird watching, and even catch and release fishing in certain areas. The area's name is derived from Mana, meaning "four" in Shona, a reference to the four permanent pools that form in the Lower Zambezi Valley (the Mana pools are former channels of the Zambezi. With the Sapi and the Chewore areas, they total 2,612 square miles. This particular area contains the last remaining natural stretch of the Middle Zambezi and there's almost no human habituation. 

Since we landed so late, we went straight out on a game drive with our ranger, Dave. We ambled by the river and drove towards Acacia Point to look for Boswell, the iconic elephant of Mana Pools. We didn’t find him, or many other animals, and with a strict 6p.m. curfew we headed back to camp. We arrived at camp at dark, which is always difficult because it’s hard to get your bearings. We had a short walk to tent four where we dropped our bags off and went straight to dinner, proceeding to sleep immediately after that. Below are some room pics from our time in Mana Pools (obviously taken on different days since we arrived at night).

Our room... super simple, but it worked!

Shower with a view of the Zambezi.

Campfire area. This is where we'd sit drinking morning coffee before heading out on game drive.

Our camp, Vundu Camp, was located amongst a grove of ebony and tamarind trees on the banks of the Zambezi River. This Bushlife Safaris camp consists of just eight tented chalets with thatched roofs, a permanent tented camp in Mana Pools located on a private concession adjacent to the park. The concrete floor and wooden beams frame the see-through tent, with just one small charging station and a few string lights draped over one bed to provide overhead lighting. Our room had two bathrooms—one outside and one inside— with flushing plumbing that didn’t really work. Whenever we showered, the water wouldn’t drain and the water would seep onto the floor of the room. When we flushed the toilet, it sometimes wouldn’t flush— we were told the elephants had been playing with the pipes of our room and the camp had to replace them just before we arrived!!! These are just a few examples of little hiccups that make Africa, well, Africa. The accommodation was basic compared to most places we've stayed on the continent, but you don’t need fancy in the bush. If you're like us, you're hardly ever in your room!

The next morning, we followed the same routine: up at 5:30a.m., out by 6a.m. We took breakfast to go packing it ourself (we put food from the buffet into small tins), and set out. Thirty minutes later, we found Boswell: the iconic bull of Mana Pools. We were told that he was just getting out of musth and as a result, hand't been seen lately. We had been worried that we wouldn't see him since he's one of the main reasons we chose Mana Pools in the first place, so we were very relieved when we stumbled upon him so early on in our trip! Mana Pools is where you go if you want to see elephants stand on their hind legs. However, not all elephants do this—it's mainly the bulls and even then there's only a handful that do so. Every elephant has their own method of reaching into the trees. One might stand, where another might simply stretch. When we located Boswell, we off-roaded to position the vehicle closer (which we could only do because he was in the private concession not the national park section) and got out of the vehicle to approach him on foot. 

Road block!! 

No words needed...

We observed as he'd reach his trunk high up, fully extended, to measure the distance to the branches. He'd shift his weight, lean back slightly, and then he'd be standing on only two feet, pulling down branches with his powerful trunk. 

Before standing up, he'd stretch to likely measure the distance between the ground and the tree.

Quick iPhone shot as the sun rose.

Mom and I with Boswell in the background, taken by our photo guide.

He did this again and again, right in front of us. Another bull came, and Boswell sent him off with low murmurs inaudible to the human ear. We continued to photograph Boswell on foot, predicting where he'd go and constantly changing lenses in the process. 

Boswell at sunrise.

Looking for the next snack!

I had booked this extension with our same photography guide from our Mashatu/MalaMala portion of the trip, and all the "in the field" tips came in handy while shooting in this forested environment (an environment I don't have much experience with because it's so different than the Africa scenery I'm used to). Our photo guide also helped me swap lenses constantly. It was a constant dance of, "quick, quick, quick! This way!" and "here, swap this lens quick!" as we photographed Boswell as he moved from tree to tree. It felt like I had my own personal camera assistant, ha! 

Getting ready to stand...

... He's up!

We'd kneel down, get up, walk quickly, kneel down, get up, walk quickly, change a lens, kneel down, change a lens, walk quickly, change a lens, repeat. Again and again, we did this. 

Out of all my photos on this trip, this is one of my favorites.

To get this shot, I crouched down as Boswell walked up a small incline.

When he moved away from the escarpment and into denser forest, we stopped for muffins and coffee and snapped a few last photos before making a quick detour back to camp (I had a headache and needed Advil—I had tweaked my neck the night before when I slept). 

Perfectly lined up with the tree!

Boswell came walking right towards us... incredible.

Playing around with the forest lighting to create silhouettes. 

We went back out, driving through the beautiful mopane forest. Unlike Mashatu, where the mopane was stunted and appeared in orange hues, the mopane of Mana Pools was tall and green. We drove to Croc Pools, an area known for exactly what it's named after. This area of the reserve reminded me a lot of the Okavango Delta in Botswana with its lush, green foliage and bright blue water channels. It didn't take us long to find an unexpected surprise... a beautiful male lion. Our photo guide turned to our ranger and asked, "happy if Elissa jumps out to photograph?" My jaw dropped. Our ranger said I could get out of the vehicle, so what did I do? I got out. I can only imagine what was going through my mom's head. Many people don't realize that when you're in Africa, you literally put your life in someone else's hands. All rangers go through rigorous training and certification programs and are beyond qualified to handle any situation thrown at them. You trust them completely, and you listen intently to their every word. 

Very slowly, I inched my way down the vehicle. You often need to move in slow motion because the animals view the vehicle and anything in it as one object and as soon as the standard silhouette is broken and there's fast movement, they can get startled. Our photo guide walked back and forth along the side of the vehicle, scoping out the perfect place to plop down. "Through there!" he said. I dropped to my belly, flat with the Earth, and angled my telephoto lens so the front of it was diagonal underneath the car's hood. I stayed there, photographing this magnificent male lion as he stared right at me. I knew I was in good hands between our ranger and our photo guide — I wasn't even scared. Below are some of my favorite photographs.

When you're belly down photographing a lion, the end result is this...

I'll never forget how it felt to be staring into the eyes of this gorgeous creature.

Slowly, I got up and climbed back onto the vehicle for a different photographic angle. Shortly after, the male lion got up to move and we repositioned the car to try some high key images with the escarpment in the background. 

With the blue hues of the escarpment in the background, this was a magical scene to photograph.

Panorama in my camera.

Behind the scenes. Here, our photo guide is helping me get the best angle! My mom took this photograph from the car.

We made our way back to camp for lunch, which followed by a one-hour editing session as soon as we got back. Because my laptop was declared dead, the photo company I traveled with was able to purchase a SSD disk for me (another guide met me at the airport when we had our short overnight stay in Joburg) and our photo guide helped me back up all my images onto the disk while in the airport on the way to Mana Pools. Now, I can plug this disk into the computer whenever I edit! I've been meaning to transition to this method for some time as it takes up no space on a computer, so I guess that's the silver lining that came out of my broken laptop. Because of this, I was able to use our photo guide's computer for some editing sessions as well! 

Checking out the photograph at full screen to see how it looks.

This was the view of the Zambezi from our tent during the day!

In the afternoon, we got wind of wild dogs being spotted but we were told it was a forty-five minute drive. Our ranger asked if we wanted to go there, and honestly who would say no?! Of course we went. When we got there, we found them... sleeping in the shade. African wild dogs are also known as the African painted dog and the African hunting dog, a native species to sub-Saharan Africa. It's one of the world's most endangered mammals with the largest remaining populations in southern Africa and the southern part of East Africa. Unfortunately, they were located in the public area of Mana Pools National Park which meant there were no vehicle regulations. We had over seven vehicles sitting there with us, waiting for them to get up. As the dogs started their greeting ceremony, where they all sniff and play with one another, we got out of the car to photograph. 

A wild dog gets up to greet pack members.

Waiting for the rest of the pack.

With my back against the vehicle, I crouched as the wild dogs ran around. They crossed over the road and we slowly followed them. Suddenly, they ran off, starting to hunt. We lost them, and because you can't drive past 6p.m. in the national park, we had to head back to camp (which took over one hour). 

On the morning of July 17th, our plan was to go to a specific part of the forest to sit and wait. So, we left camp a little later. We actually were able to see the sunrise at camp! We almost always leave when it's still dark, so it was a nice change of pace for us.

Sunrise over the Zambezi, taken from the campfire area at camp.

That might seem like an unusual approach, but we had a very particular goal in mind: photographing whatever wildlife came into sight surrounded by good light and beautiful trees. As you now know, plans change very quickly in Africa. On our way to that specific location, we found Boswell again. This was surprising, because we were told we probably wouldn't see him again after that first day. He covers a lot of ground, and doesn't stay in one area for too long. Unlike the first time we came across him, he was in the national park area which meant we couldn't off-road to position the vehicle closer to him. He was towards the river's edge, a long walk from where we'd have to park the car. We got out to walk, but soon realized how quickly he was walking and how far left we had to go. We turned back, knowing we probably wouldn't find him again. 

I like to think that most things happen for a reason, and this morning that was certainly the case. We continued along, heading towards the direction where we had last seen the wild dogs. We found the wild dog pack... with only one other vehicle there. Once again, we got out of the car to photograph them. We sat on the ground as they slept in the sun. 

You can see our shadow in comparison to the wild dogs here.

Slowly starting to wake up.

We knew they'd move to the shade soon, but we didn't know when that would be. Rapidly, the dogs got up and started moving around.

We thought the dogs would be moving...

... But nope. They rolled around!

Waking up to move to the shade.

They walked towards the shade, just on the other side of a termite mound with a tree sticking up from it. When they settled down, we followed them... And so did the hyenas.

A spotted hyena follows the dogs. 

Our ranger told us that, while completely wild, these dogs are very relaxed and if we wanted to, we could get pretty close... just a few feet away. To do so, we lowered ourselves belly down onto the dirt and slowly army crawled towards the dogs. Using our elbows and legs to pull us forward, we got closer and closer until we were so close that we could smell them. I was aware that I was literally sitting in impala scat, but I didn't care. Where else do you get an experience like this? And, at what other time would you even get to do this again?! I soaked up every second, often just observing in total awe that these wild dogs weren't bothered by our presence in the slightest. 

When kneeling, this was my view with the dogs.

When belly down, this was my view!

Behind the scenes... The dogs are in the shade of the tree. Thanks, mom, for the pic!

Cuddle time!

They settled down to sleep and when we determined they'd sleep for the remainder of the day, we army crawled away from them before getting onto our knees and then our feet. Again, our movements had to be slow so we wouldn't disturb them. When we got up, we could see our "tracks" on the ground when we left (animals are often located when rangers find animal tracks in the ground whether that's droppings or actual footprints. Now, we had left our own drag mark in the dirt from being belly down). 

You can see two lines in the dirt here... That's from us army crawling towards the dogs, ha!

We stopped for a quick breakfast overlooking the Zambezi... 

Our breakfast spot.

We then took a leisurely drive to an area we hadn't yet been to. There, we found two male lions and one female lion: a mating pair and an onlooker. The dominant male was constantly side-by-side with the female— he wasn't letting her get away. We spent some time with them before going back to camp. 

A male lion closely follows a female.

Clingy much?!

In the afternoon, we went back to see what the wild dogs were doing since we had such an incredible few hours with them in the morning (and thankfully they were only about thirty minutes away from camp instead of forty-five, though still on the national park side where you can't off-road and where vehicle limits don't exist). On the way to the area where we had left them, we had an elephant trumpet at us like on the way back from camp the night before. Teenage bulls sometimes think they can terrorize cars so while your instinct would naturally be to reverse the vehicle and get away, you have to stand your ground. If you back up, it teaches the elephant that this is acceptable and he'd just do it to other cars. This is one of the many situations where you trust your guide because while this is a common occurrence, it's necessary to read the situation properly. Sure enough, the teenage bull left us alone and we were on our way. 

We got out to sit with the wild dogs again. I thought we'd have to wait a really long time for them to move, but they quickly got up to walk into the forest. 

The pack on the move once more.

Like any animal, their patterns are so unique. Here are some individual pack members. 

One by one, the dogs walked past us.

They didn't even glance in our direction!

My personal favorite is a wild dog referred to as Ghost for her white markings.

There were more people there than in the morning, but everyone was still a respectable distance away and in a neat, horizontal line. We followed them on foot as they traversed the forest, eventually turning back to get the vehicle and try to locate them again because their pace picked up. We drove further... and nothing. We continued on and found Boswell! We parked the car, got out on foot, and followed Boswell and another elephant. 

Boswell in the late afternoon.

Even though it looks like an elephant moves really slowly, you realize just how quickly they can walk when you're on foot. One of their steps is about ten (or more) of ours, which makes following them a great workout. Boswell stopped at a tree to stand on his hind legs. I had just barely positioned myself before he did this because he had walked so fast! 

Standing up once more... We never tired of seeing this.

Playing around with more abstract shots of animals.

Beauty is all around you if you look... These birds were in the tree above Boswell.

We walked with him as he went from tree to tree. This was the first time we had other people with us, as it wasn't on Vundu's concession.

For perspective, you can see people to my right and on the opposite side of Boswell. These people were all with guides. I do think one of the guides got way too close, but that's another discussion to be had...

In the not so far distance, we heard wild dogs barking. I looked over my left shoulder, and saw the same pack that we had just been with. We left the elephants, walked quickly towards the wild dogs, and found four lions (three females, one young male) and hyenas among the wild dogs! My mom must have had a "what the heck" moment because I heard her ask "is this safe??" to which our ranger replied "yes". The dogs had bloodied faces, making a kill in the thirty minutes since we had lost their trail. Our ranger thought that the lions stole their kill, though. It's a tough life for wild dogs out here with the hyenas consistently following them to scavenge their kill and with the lions trying to steal their food. 

It wasn't the most photographic scene, but seeing wild dogs fresh off a kill (while on foot with them) was a thrilling experience!

Bloody from their recent kill.

We stood at a termite mound, completely still, as the wild dogs came within two feet of us. The light was all but gone now, and we still had a long walk back to the car. Traveling in unknown places is difficult for my mom with her low vision, even more so when it's dawn, dusk, or night, and I felt bad that we stayed out so late with such a long walk back. It's not easy for her sometimes and I know that what might seem to be a simple walk for us is a difficult one for her between her vision and her bad knee. She handled it like a champ (there was no other way to get to the car so we had to trace our steps back). I was so proud. While she might've been freaking out in the moment, I'm sure she'll look back on this one experience and remember how thrilling it was to be on foot with wild dogs, lions, and hyenas surrounding us. 

When we got back to the car, we drove quickly back to camp because we still had to abide by the 6p.m. national park curfew. We drove into the bright orange sky, passing by a trumpeting elephant once more. At least this time, the momma was trumpeting at hyenas and not us!! When we got back to camp, the film crew that had just flown in was still setting up the camera rigs on the vehicles and the bright blue helicopter. While the camp didn't clarify who the film crew was, we know that Dynasties is having a sequel and we know that the Mana Pools wild dogs are featured in the documentary so we put two and two together assuming that it was a BBC film crew stationed at camp.

July 18th was our last full day in Mana Pools. In the morning, we were going to try to find Tusker (another elephant bull that stands up), but we took a detour instead. Our ranger had a hunch that the wild dogs would be at what is referred to as the Chinese airstrip (an old airplane hanger that was going to be used as an anti-poaching station but isn't). Sure enough, the dogs were where our ranger thought they'd be. 

Approaching the wild dogs near the mopane trees.

We found the wild dogs playing and gnawing on an old elephant skull. Behind them, we could see the early morning hues of the escarpment at sunrise: orange, blue, and yellow. 

Wrestling around an elephant skull.

This is classic Mana Pools with the gorgeous escarpment and mopane treess.

The scenery is so iconic that people who have been to Mana Pools would recognize it as such. Even then, it was such a unique sighting with that escarpment in the background. We spent time with the dogs on foot (or should I say on our stomach, crouching down yet again) before they ran off to hunt. Below are some additional pictures from our last morning with them.

Running past us to catch up with the pack.

Plop!!!

When you have an itch...

One of my personal favorites from the trip.

For perspective, you can see where we had parked the car. We were on foot for all these photos!

When mating gets in the way of play time...

The wrestling continues.

We headed back towards Croc Pools because I wanted to see if we could find some hippos to photograph. We had been trying to follow the dogs on a detour road and the plan was to follow that road until we got to Croc Pools. We were on the little-used road for quite some time, navigating around fallen trees (you could tell this road wasn't used often just by the condition it was in) before we had to retrace our steps... we literally couldn't distinguish where the road was anymore! Nevertheless, it was special to be in an area that is hardly ever visited by people. Driving along the mopane trees, I felt peaceful. We stopped for a coffee before continuing back to a main road and we turned the same direction we had been going (on a different road this time!) 

Unlike Mashatu, these mopane trees were more than triple the height.

Once at Croc Pools, we started searching for hippos in the "salad bowl": green vegetation that sits on top of the water. We found a few hippos gathered together, photographing them from a safe distance in the vehicle. 

Peeking out from the water.

I looked to my right in time to catch this beauty in flight!

iPhone snap of Croc Pools with the escarpment in the background.

After snapping some last photos, we went back to camp early because the wind had picked up and it was really cold. Before lunch, I had an editing session. So many people commented on how amazing the pulled back photo of the wild dogs with the escarpment in the background was. One of the BBC film crew members saw it and said, "you should work for us with those shots", ha!  

Editing back at camp.

On our last afternoon, we opted for a sail down the Zambezi. Whenever I travel to Africa, I never stop for sundowners because it takes way too much time away from photography in the best light. Even our photo guide had never sailed down the Zambezi because not many camps have direct river access (our camp does). 

Unfortunately, there was no sunset but it was still gorgeous!

We didn't see much in terms of wildlife (mainly crocodiles and hippos) and there wasn't much of a sunset because the clouds had rolled in (odd weather for this time of the year), but we had an enjoyable time reflecting on all the amazing sightings we had over the past few weeks. I don't think there was anything else we could have possibly seen that would have been better than what we already had seen! Of course, we had to have a Zambezi on the Zambezi too. 

The perfect ending to a wonderful trip.

Cheers!

We returned to camp at sunset, packing the last of our belongings before going to dinner. The following days (July 19th and 20th) were the longest travel days ever. We woke up at 6a.m. on July 19th. I had one last shower (outdoors this time!) and grabbed breakfast to go. 

The outdoor shower before sunrise. There was a small light over the mirror on the opposite wall. Otherwise, it was dark. Here, there's not even a drain... it drains under the canvas!

We drove to the airstrip about twenty minutes away from camp and boarded our nearly two-hour bush flight (this time on a Cessna 210 Turbo Centurion) and landed in Harare early in the morning. 

Our ride back to Harare.

Flying over Mana Pools.

Flying into Harare.

We had a lot of airport time in Harare as our flight to Joburg wasn't until the afternoon. We then flew two more hours to Joburg where we had over five hours to kill. We gathered our bags, went through immigration, and said goodbye to our photography guide. We plopped down at a cafe, ate some pizza and drank a coffee milkshake, and waited for the check-in counters to open. During those five hours, we did some shopping damage at O.R. Tambo. Once again, we went to my favorite shop to have a closer look. We eventually boarded our 8:30p.m. flight, an eight and a half hour flight to Doha. We had a two-hour layover in Doha followed by a sixteen-hour flight straight to Los Angeles. 

Back in La La Land!

By the time we walked in our front door, we had been traveling for forty-one hours. It's not easy traveling to Africa, especially when you take four planes over two days (this was the longest journey ever) but it's always worth it. Of all the Africa trips I've taken, this one was by far my favorite. We had so many amazing sightings that I can't even pick a top three. Or a top five. Or even a top three from each destination. It was that good. I haven't even been home for two days (longer, since this blog post was still written... it takes FOREVER to edit pictures and upload!!) and I'm already yearning to go back to my favorite continent. But until then, thanks for following along. 

All the goodies we bought in Africa this time around.

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