Mana Pools

Since the previous reviewers described their thorough yet expensive visits to the park, I will focus on practicalities how to get in and around on a budget as a family trip (2 adults, 2 children). Visit in early May 2024.

The area around the national park is probably the least visited part of Zimbabwe - there is no large city nearby, even the main Harare-Lusaka road is in terrible condition. It's hard to find any place to sleep. I used Makuti Travel Lodge, which is closest to the park. Its owner, Davie (whatsapp +263779450211), prepared a room for us even though his lodge is officially closed for renovation (it should open in September or October 2024, and certainly in 2025). We paid USD 40 for an adult, USD 20 for a child - total USD 120. If someone doesn't want to sleep in Makuti, you can try to find a place to sleep in Karoi (the last larger town in Zimbabwe) or in Zambia (preferably in Chirundu). From Karoi to the park gate it is about 100 km, from Chirundu 40 km plus crossing the border. The last gas station is in Makuti, right next to the Makuti Travel Lodge - it's worth making sure you have a full tank for a trip to the park.

To visit Mana Pools on your own, go to the Northern Zimbabwe national parks headquarters in Marangora (about 15 minutes from Makuti). They open at 7 a.m., so if you start at …

Zimbabwe has been on our radar since we started visiting sub-Sahara Africa some years ago. Late September '23 we realized the trip.

Our trip was a road trip starting in Lusaka Zambia southbound and our first goal was (except secondary goal of Chirundu twhs in Zambia) Mana Pools National Park. It’s the site that really drives the cost on this trip. The park is a valley hosting the Zambezi River on the northern border to Zambia and is famous for its dry season wildlife gatherings. The WHS consists of three areas (Mana Pools, Sapi and Chewore), but we were told that Mana is by far the best area - for wildlife encounters.

Having spent the night just across the border from Zambia west of the park we entered the park fairly early one morning. Although it’s possible to see wildlife from the first gate we didn’t really have any encounters until we were way in the park. Camp headquarters (where we had to register a third time) are on the bank of Zambezi and from that point it was wildlife for three days. We experienced the famous “blue haze” although without Boswell (see Els’ review), but it was lots of other elephants and other animals.

The first afternoon/evening we spent mostly at the riverbank photographing lions, hippos, elephants, the pretty carmine bee-eaters, and other animals. The mandatory sundowner (which seams way over the top colonial I must admit, but it) makes the African sunset even more special.

Mana Pools National Park was the main goal of my 2023 Zimbabwe trip – rarely visited by our community, lacking a full review, but ranked among the best parks in Africa by safari nuts due to its large gatherings of wildlife in a ‘wild’ setting. Lately, Mana Pools is considered to have become ‘busy’ due to the ever-increasing number of camps and the accompanying vehicular traffic and what the IUCN Outlook 2020 describes as "crowding of iconic elephants and predator kills". The connoisseurs now prefer the even wilder Gonarezhou in the east of the country. As far as I have seen, the park shows no indication whatsoever of being a World Heritage Site (no plaque, no logos).

I spent 6 nights camping in the park as part of a 13-day safari tour: 3 nights at Chitake Springs and 3 nights at Mana Riverside. I will remember it mostly for its scenic landscapes. The rough area around Chitake Springs is covered with picturesque baobabs and even has its own ‘Baobab Avenue’. It also best shows the eroded 'sand-bank' environment – created by a large seasonal river - that is part of the site’s OUV. There are only a handful of (often sold-out) wild camping spots here and there are no roads.

The more developed Mana Riverside has a fine setting along the Zambezi River (a bit similar to Botswana’s Chobe NP), plus the ‘blue forests’ that it is famous for among serious photographers. The blue haze is created by …

I am a zimbabwean living overseas now, we as a family used to go to mana alot, it is the most amazing place i have ever been and i have travelled the world extensively,There is such a spirit about mana ancient in time i feel so primal when i am there i recomend mana pools to anyone who loves nature, wildlife and fishing . i hope mana stays free of poaching and it is managed honestly. i would love to organise events here in newzealand to raise money for the preservation of the park

I went to Mana Pools in December with my brother, who lives in Zimbabwe. It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been, and the experience was enhanced by seeing the rare & elusive painted hunting dogs, and also lions, elephants, hippos, crocodiles, hyenas and other species of animals and birds too numerous to mention. The experience of living for five days in such an utterly wild place, sleeping outside with the sound of roaring lions, whooping hyenas and grunting hippos to lull me to sleep, and spending the days surrounded by such stunning scenery, is one I will never forget.

Difficult to get a place in a lodge unless you know a Zimbabwe resident (& even then not easy), but there are campsites open in the dry season, and it's well worth visiting if you can find a way.