Mana Pools National Park

• Long Pool

  The largest of the four pools, over six kilometres long with a permanent population of hippo and crocodile, and the place elephant herds and water birds come to drink. It is the easiest spot in the park to understand why the floodplain matters.

  ZimParks, Mana Pools National Park
• The albida woodland

  The open stands of Faidherbia (Acacia) albida on the old river terraces, the trees that drop protein-rich apple-ring pods when little else is left to eat. The biggest elephants pull the branches down, and everything else gets a share. Unusually, the tree runs a reverse cycle, in leaf through the dry winter when everything else is bare.

  Zimbabwe Field Guide, Mana Pools National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Natural Site
• Chitake Springs

  About 65 km inland at the foot of the escarpment. In the dry season its spring is the only water for many kilometres, so everything that drinks has to come to it. The park's own code treats it as a place to walk and sit, not drive around, and it is 4x4 only with no facilities.

  Visit Mana Pools, things to do
• Mupata Gorge

  The gorge, some 30 km long, on the northern edge of the Chewore Safari Area. Above it the Zambezi of the Mana stretch is broad and sandy, braided through channels, sandbanks and islands. This is the gorge the dam scheme of the early 1980s would have closed.

  IUCN, World Heritage nomination summary and technical evaluation 302, Mana Pools National Park, Sapi and Chewore Safari Areas (1984)
• Sapi and Zambezi confluence at Chikwenya

  On the eastern edge of the park, where the Sapi River joins the Zambezi. Wilderness's Chikwenya camp sits here in a private conservation area on the park boundary, with floodplain, pans, islands and two rivers close together, and elephants on their hind legs in the albida.

  Wilderness, why visit Mana Pools and Kafue in the dry season

• Mana Pools, with Sapi and Chewore, was Zimbabwe's first World Heritage Site, inscribed in 1984, two years before Great Zimbabwe and Khami and five before Victoria Falls. source
• In 1972 the palaeontologist Michael Raath found a bone bed near the Chitake River holding at least 26 individuals of a small early Jurassic dinosaur he had named Syntarsus rhodesiensis. The name turned out to belong to a beetle already, so in 2001 the animal was renamed Megapnosaurus. source
• The Mupata Gorge dam would have created a lake of about 1,500 km² over the core of the park. IUCN's 1984 evaluation said it would halve the carrying capacity for wildlife and essentially negate the value of the site. source
• The 2014 national air survey counted about 11,500 elephant in the Middle Zambezi Valley complex that includes Mana, down 40 percent from roughly 18,000. The valley south of Lake Kariba had lost three quarters of its elephant since 2001, from 14,000 to 3,500. source
• Mana is Shona for four, after the four pools: Green Pool, Chisasiko, Chine and Long Pool. Long Pool, the biggest, runs for more than six kilometres. source

Checked 19 October 2026.

• very likelyElephantSeen on every Expert Africa trip, and the bulls come back to the same parts of the park year after year. A few stand on their hind legs to reach the albida (winterthorn) pods, which is the photograph many people come for. All through the open season. Herds grow as the dry season goes on, and the standing bulls are a sight of the end of the dry season, when the pods dropsource
• very likelyHippoLong Pool, the biggest of the four pools at over six kilometres, has a large permanent population. All yearsource
• very likelyNile crocodileLong Pool, which keeps a large permanent population. All yearsource
• very likelyPlains zebraSeen on 97 percent of Expert Africa's tripssource
• very likelyLionSeveral sizeable prides, seen from vehicles and on walks, on nine trips in ten. All seasonsource
• very likelyKudu, impala, waterbuck, bushbuck and warthogImpala, waterbuck and warthog on the open floodplain, kudu browsing under the mahoganies, bushbuck in the riverine thicket. All seasonsource
• very likelyCarmine bee-eaters, fish eagles and other river birdsAbout 380 species recorded. Several kinds of kingfisher, darters, cormorants, herons and storks along the river, fish eagles in the trees above the water, and southern carmine bee-eater colonies in the sandy banks. Pel's fishing owl and African skimmer are the rare ones the serious birders chase. April is the best month, with the summer migrants still in. The bee-eater colonies are on the banks from August to Novembersource
• likelyCape buffaloHerds that grow larger as the year goes on, seen on 84 percent of trips. From about April, when the game comes back to the river, through the dry seasonsource
• likelyElandOften in the open albida woodland, and a Mana specialitysource
• likelySpotted hyenaSeen on seven trips in tensource
• likelyAfrican wild dogMana is a stronghold for wild dog, and some guides can get remarkably close to the packs on foot. Seen on 57 percent of trips. All seasonsource
• possibleLeopardPresent but shy, seen on about one trip in threesource
• possibleNyalaThe riverine thicket along the Zambezi. Mana is near the northern edge of the nyala's rangesource
• rareRoan, sable and wildebeestRoan on 14 percent of trips, wildebeest 12, sable 7source
• rareCheetahPresent but seen on about 3 trips in 100source

Likelihood is for a normal visit of two or three days, from the sources linked. Nothing is guaranteed in the wild.

Malaria

UK travel health advice says the malaria risk in the Zambezi valley runs all year round, not just November to June as in the rest of the low country, and it recommends atovaquone and proguanil, doxycycline or mefloquine for anyone going there. Start the tablets before you leave, cover up from dusk, and tell a doctor you were in a malaria area if a fever turns up during the trip or in the months after it. source

Walking on foot

In Mana you may walk without a guide, but it comes with rules. You need a walking permit from the park office, you walk entirely at your own risk, you keep to the open floodplain (the riverine forest and thick bush are off limits), you stay at least 30 metres from elephant, lion, wild dog and any den, and no more than 12 people may be on foot at one sighting. Children under 16 may not walk in Zimbabwe's parks at all. A ZimParks ranger can be hired to walk with you, and unless you have real experience of African big game on foot that is the sensible way to do it. source

Unfenced camps

Every camp in the park is unfenced. Elephant and hippo walk through Nyamepi most nights, hyena patrol after dark, and at Chitake Springs the lions drink within sight of the tents. Lock all food away out of sight, keep the tent zipped, use a torch at night, and be back in camp by the curfew. source

The river

Hippo and crocodile are everywhere in this stretch of the Zambezi. Stay well back from the water's edge, keep away from it at dawn and dusk when the crocodiles hunt, and keep children off the bank altogether. If you must take river water, fill up quickly from a high, safe bank, then filter and purify it. Canoe only with a licensed river guide. source

Heat, water and help

October is the hottest month, with afternoons often over 40°C and nights that only fall to about 24°C. Plan on five litres of drinking water a head a day from September to November, plus a reserve for at least two extra days. There is no clinic, doctor or pharmacy in the park and little or no phone signal on the valley floor. The nearest help is at Karoi (177 km before Nyamepi), Kariba or Chinhoyi, and that is for stabilising and malaria tests, so anything serious means an air evacuation to Harare. Buy insurance that says air evacuation on it. source

Roads

Canadian government advice is to stay off Zimbabwe's roads after dark: potholes cause many accidents, animals and pedestrians use the highways, and some vehicles run without lights. Security forces set up roadblocks anywhere without notice, so stop at every one, and if you are fined ask for a ticket and do not pay on the spot, because on the spot fines are illegal. source

• Get the entry permit at the ZimParks office at Marongora, the Zambezi Valley headquarters, before you go down the escarpment; the gate officers send anyone without one back up the hill. Check in again at Nyamepi with your booking form, and keep the receipt, because the exit gate will not let you out without proof you have paid. Karoi is the last town for fuel and supplies. Firewood may not be collected in the park; buy it by the bundle at Nyamepi. one source
• Monkeys, baboons and hyenas work the campsites. People who camp here say to keep every scrap of food and rubbish shut in the car, a locked box or the trailer at all times. several sources
• Mana runs a carry-in, carry-out rule on rubbish, and any bag left out is torn open and spread round the site by baboons, monkeys and hyenas. Do not bury it or burn it at the edge of camp. Forum regulars reported in 2014 that the Nyamepi office radioed ahead and a group was fined at Nyakasikana gate, and off-track driving risks heavy fines or losing the vehicle. Take a paper bag for your toilet paper on walks. several sources
• Chitake Springs is a different trip from the river. The drive between Chitake and Nyamepi takes one to three hours on corrugated road, and driving routes around the spring are very limited, so you wait in camp and let the elephant, buffalo and lions come through. People who have done it suggest about three nights at Chitake and two on the Zambezi, and say a guide or someone very experienced makes the walking there far safer. several sources
• For September, camp space in the park can run short up to a year ahead, so book as soon as your dates are fixed. one source
• For tsetse fly, the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority says to leave blue and black clothing at home because those colours draw them, and to wear neutral colours such as khaki or stone. official

Checked 19 October 2026. Conditions change, so confirm with the park or venue before you go.