August 15th. 2003 Chitake Springs Camp, Mana Pools, Zimbabwe. Elevation 400m
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Route: Kariba docks - Mana Pools Zimbabwe
I'm not actually at this incredible bush camp any longer, seeing as I ran out of batteries for this machine on the Nauti Gall a week ago.
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After some hectic shuffling of bottles and
backpacks, chaotic details and bits going awry,
we finally leave Kariba |
We have not seen real electricity since Warthogs, oh so many lifetimes ago.
Ohhhh Africa! It does not get any better than this for those of us who actually enjoy this stuff - other points of view may vary: better talk to Maureen & Kayla before I make that an all inclusive statement.
I do not believe that I can even come close to explaining the incredible adventures that we have had on the lower
Zambezi & Mana. Unique?,
incredible? certainly indescribable in words.
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We arrive at the hot & dusty town of Chirundu
It's only after we unload all the gear, |
Before we came, I told Peter & Maureen that Africa does not get much better/ wilder/ fulfilling/ etc etc than this trip. Well, I was right, and once our pulse rates came down to simply well above normal, we could actually appreciate what it was we were living through.
Its quite an escarpment up the valley getting out of Kariba. I remember this from last time, I am getting quite at home here.
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We take everything down to the water
and our driver says
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We follow our guide in my cruiser up the valley to Makouti where I leave the Cruiser in the safe haven of the local hotel - for the princely sum of $0.25 per day.
By 2:00, after a hectic speed freak drive down the Zambezi escarpment, we are at the hot & dusty town of Chirundu
. This is a major roadway in and out of Zambia, so there is lots of truck traffic here. |
"Good luck, Steve will pick you up at
Mana in 3 days"
Not a dude trip after all
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Up to this point, I still believe that we are have a "dude" type of trip, complete with camps set up for us when we arrive, shower tents cooks etc etc. It's only after we unload all the gear, take it down to the water
and our driver says
"Good luck, Steve will pick you up at Mana in 3 days" that I know that this concept was a figment of my wild imagination.
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Suddenly, the chat is over and we are paddling
downstream into the wild blue yonder.
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I see the pile of boxes, tents and paraphernalia of a camping trip and the truth sinks in.
Not quite self catering - our guide Zera, will do all of that as well as make sure we have a better than 50% chance of arriving safely for Steve.This will be pretty basic.
There are mounds of stuff, 7 people, and 3 canoes. As we nibble our sandwiches (good and fresh), Zera arranges it all, ties down the boxes of supplies, and tells us we are ready to go.
Somehow, everything has gone into the canoes. |
Our first pod is a real experience,
We paddle close to the bank, let them all jump
in the water then paddle past where they were
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"Follow me, stay one canoe length behind the canoe in front, and follow my instructions" we are told by Zera. We get a 2 minute intro to paddling, a general caveat to keep your hands and feet out of and away from the water, and we are off.
I'm amazed that there are no forms to fill in, no video to watch, nothing about having heart problems or needing special medications etc, but this is the way it's done here.
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but by no means the worst
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Raw, "In your Face" is the order of the day, but to everyone here, it's just how things are. You want to do this, we will help you do it. You are responsible for your decisions here, and there is no clever lawyer going to convince a judge that any problem you have is the guides, or companies fault or problem.
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We arrive on our island for the first night
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As the sun goes down over the hills, we set up camp for the night
We set up the tents in places without too many hippo tracks |
Anything goes wrong, like you are eaten by a croc, skewered by a hippo, have a heart attack or develop appendicitis, well, at the end of the day, it's your problem. Ho Hum. Lets go!
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| We start early |
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We have all survived without crocs or Hippo's
invading our site, and we're off for
another adventure
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Suddenly, as if we did not notice, the chat is over and we are paddling downstream into the wild blue yonder.
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Come 11:00, and it's time for lunch.
Zera, sets up under a thorn tree |
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We help with the details like cabbage cutting
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And siesta in the shade
of a thorn tree
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Occasionally, Zera stands up in the canoe
and hits the water with his paddle
to frighten off and sub aqua intruders |
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Come 4:00PM still alive, we camp on what used to be an island
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There is a bull elephant about 1Km away,
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so we go and investigate. This is Mana after all.
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Zera sets up the cooking, tables,
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chairs and other camping functions
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This is probably not a family pix from any other families we know
An island in the lower Zambezi looking west, upriver
At 3:00AM there's a rifle shot. it appears that three shadows have run off with some items from the canoes
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We are out a little later next morning, 8:00AM
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Zera & Maureen lead, Aiden, Kayla and I at the back in between, and Peter & Ilge
at the back.
The Zambezi here is about 750 metres wide with a fairly rapid current. It's hot, hotter than Kariba being a hundred metres or so lower in elevation.
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| Peter & Ilge are again at the back |
We stick close to the Zim bank, and within a few minutes encounter the first of countless Hippo pods basking in the sun on shore.Our guide of course does this almost everyday for a living, but to us, city slicked, with a veneer of Africa life, it's a pretty exhilarating experience.
More so for Kayla, Maureen, and Peter.
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Our first pod is a real experience, but by no means the worst. Everything goes according to plan here. It's all so counter intuitive. The hippos are basking in the sun on the bank, so what do we do?  |
Zera tells us of "Mad Max" an occasionally rogue hippo,
but not when to expect him |
Well, we paddle close to the bank
, let them all jump in the water then paddle past where they were. Simple eh? Sure, but you paddle up to 50 basking hippos only 20 metres away, and listen to the below's, roars and commotion as they all crash into the deeper waters just off to your left. Kayla looks at me, terrified, she was never sure about this part of the trip, now her worst fears are (any minute about to be) realised. "its alright love, we'll be fine" Actually, I'm probably as shit scared as she is.....
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Later in the day, we enter Mana Pools park.
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Zera & Mo, forge ahead, we follow in their wake. The hippos we displace watch us from the water, sometimes 20 m away. They are not usually very pleased about it, and occasionally,  |
Animals everywhere
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Zera stands up in the canoe and hits the water with his paddle to frighten off and sub aqua intruder, which only he seems to see.
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This is nothing like canoeing in Algonquin. I keep reminding Aiden & Kayla to keep their hands in board - crocs do grab hands holding paddles over the side of the canoe - only natural after all.
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Maureen demonstrates I keep reminding Aiden & Kayla to keep their hands in board
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Within an hours or so, we get the idea.
- Warn the hippos that you are coming by making a noise they can hear. Usually, this is by banging the paddle on the side of the canoe. (Don't forget to keep your elbows inside the canoe!)
- Once they become aware of you, make sure they all jump into the water
- Stay close to the bank (all the better to get out faster)
- Paddle like hell once they are all in
- Watch for any mean looking heads just ahead and out to the centre of the river
- If they do not jump into the river when you are 10 m away, retire immediately back upstream (ie paddle like hell twice as much backwards)
- Repeat
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We stick close to the Zim bank
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Of course, try not to tip the canoe over - you have a 70% chance of not being eaten by a croc (see previous entry), or bitten by a hippo, a higher chance if there are more than two of you in the canoe.
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Come evening, and we camp at a beautiful spot
on an island.
As the evening turns into and early night,
we hear lions approaching
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We pass lots of crocs sunning themselves on the bank. They are usually only 1 - 2 metres long.
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We dined in fine style, Peter enjoying a snack
Around 2:00 AM, there are lions outside the tent
- just 10 metres away.
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Only an hour out of Chirundu, and Zera shows a sign to stay quiet. We head for the bank and ground in some slime and muck. Suddenly, a 3 m croc lurches out of the grass, and swims under Peter & Ilge's canoe. I'm blasé enough about this now to wonder why we bothered. Not what we are here for. "Wild Dogs" Zera whispers. WOW! after 6 years in Africa, we have never seen these animals in the wild. Somehow, we get out of the canoe. Hopefully the last croc does not have a clever buddy hiding somewhere in this slime.
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we drift down the river.
There is a noisy pod of hippos in the main river,
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Eugggh! This muck is 2 + feet deep, and I need to pull up my shorts to keep them out of it. Gross! Sure enough, 4 wild dogs about 50 m away.
Fantastic, I just have time for a grainy video before they trot off into the valley and are hidden. We follow for a while but they are gone.
All around us is shit, looks like Hyena to me, but Aiden says its Lion. |
so we detour around a small branch
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Getting back into the canoe is even worse, and I get deeper into this muck. Once in, I was my feet in the river. Peter reminds me that I'm being incredibly stupid - I'd certainly shout at the kids for doing this! He's absolutely right, but I'm not sure, even now, if I prefer slimed legs, or croc teeth in my feet. I survive - another one of my lucky days. |
"Be quiet here" Zera tells us
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It's a hard slog. We need to get 20+Km in about 3 hours. As the sun goes down over the hills, we arrive on our island for the night.
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As we silently glide pass a truly huge croc
(about 6 metres long) |
There are still crocs around in the river, but they will not come onto land, or even into shallow water, if we are here.
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Zera sets up
the cooking, tables, chairs and other camping functions. We are given instructions for the shovel and matches for crapping. Now we see what all of the stuff we brought is. We set up the tents
in places without too many hippo tracks (they come out at night to go grazing, sometimes up to 40Km away), and sleeping bags. |
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Although its all pretty basic, rustic even, with an old ammo box for cutlery and two jerry cans for fresh water, everything works. Its delicious spaghetti bolognese for dinner (cooked by Steve's Mum), and we have seconds and thirds after our workout. No doubt about it, we all ache in lots of places.
"This is the hardest stretch" we are told. Zera gives us a better than passing grade (remember those panicky moments with the hippos earlier?), but after 20 Km, we are all still alive. Tomorrow, we have all day to do 28Km. |
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There is an hour of stars before the a sliver of moon rises over the river. Elephants trumpet in the distance.
It's been quite a day. Quite an experience. Truly a unique one.
During the night, two elephant cross the river and cavort 15 metres up stream from us, some of us wake up. They move on, and we sleep till morning. We see their tracks in the sand as the sun rises.
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The shovel gets a good work out.
By 7:45, we are back in the water. The sun is only up by a few degrees, so it's still quite cool.
Today, Ilge heads out with Zera, and Maureen & Peter have their own canoe, and occasionally we hear them having a few shall we say "tense" moments, especially if we knock their canoe into the bank. Well, if you have to get it right to stay alive, it's worth a few fast pulses occasionally.
Heading East into the sun with nothing but hippos, crocs and elephants within miles of us.
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We paddle, beat the canoe, watch pods of hippos flee and scatter before us. Large herds often within 300m of each other, bellow and grunt. Zera tells us of "Mad Max" an occasionally rogue hippo who also occasionally chews up canoes, and sometimes it occupants. He does not tell us where Max hangs out though. |
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It's difficult to describe the way it works on the river. I have the camera's, but I'm also responsible for steering and power output from the kids, consequently, you seriously have to be prepared to take evasive action to quite literally save your life. Needless to say, action shots of Hippo leaping and crocs slithering into the water, are de facto, a bit thin on the ground, or in this case, on the river.
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We are still a bit rusty at this. Taking shots of hippos charging into the water, is at best a hit and miss affair. One second we are strolling down the river, next second we come around a bend to see 50 hippos staring at us from 20 metres away, and suddenly, you have to get your act together big time.  |
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When Zera stands up in the canoe (he's about 6' 3") and beats the water with his paddle, we know we are into unknown territory as far as animal behaviour is concerned. As this illustrates:
Maureen: "Zera, what happened to that big hippo that was over to our left?"
Zera: "Its underneath us now"
Hmmmm.........
Incredible numbers of birds everywhere, incredible colours and whole branches of vibrant bee eaters, kingfishers and occasional fish eagles swoop by. Zera is an incredible font of information on animals, trees, birds, everything we ask him he has the answer. Aiden has most of them down pat by now.
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| By 10:30, we are at Mana main camp |
Kayla and he are also really up with all the animals too - the family experts on birds & beasts of Southern Africa.
Truly an incredible trip.
Come 11:00, and it's time for lunch. Zera, sets up the tables, chairs, food under a thorn tree
and organises the tea/ coffee. We help with the details like cabbage cutting and replenish our calories. Cold chicken with salad made on the premises. Once again, we are really hungry/ nay pig like (well me anyway) and this is truly great food.
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and take the canoes out of the river
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The heat is pretty intense now, there is lots of shade, so after lunch, we siesta
in the shade of a thorn tree. I mean big thorns. One went clean through my sandal into me.
It is really hot, and we are glad to be out of the sun. This is still winter here, I cannot imagine being out here in summer. Our skin is getting quite scorched as it is, and midday exposure would really give us cause for concern. I realise I may need to consult a skin specialist once I get back. |
Buffalo, elephants, kudu, eland and baboons
are all within spitting distance of the campers
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By 12:30, our time we are mostly in a snoozy state. I have to admit, that I think of my clients and friends back in Toronto, just setting out to work, and, like Tom the cabin boy, in my favourite TV series of Captain Pugwash, smile knowingly and say....... nothing.
After another hectic paddle avoiding pods hither & yon this time 23Km for the day. Occasionally when things get really tense, and there are 20 hippos charging into the river no more than 15 metres in front of our canoe, I have to reassure Kayla that we will all live through this and talk about during the winter evenings. Personally, I'm not so convinced about this myself!
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Steve takes us to one of the "pools" which is
"Mana" in the local language
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Come 4:00PM still alive, we camp
on what used to be an island, but is now the mainland. There is a bull elephant about 1Km away, so we go and investigate. This is Mana after all.
During dinner, Zera tells us about a Dutch guy he had to rescue from a croc. Apparently, he ignored his instructions, and simply went for a swim in the river. He saw him being tossed around, and grabbed the croc by the tail, and lifted it up. Seems that they go loose and let go of whatever is in their mouths this way (!?!). |
We have to get up from our post lunch siesta
to avoid being walked on by an elephant
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Dinner. Here are a few pix of how we dined in fine style, and otherwise spent our evenings. Peter
enjoying a snack, Maureen
post shovel, kids
at the dining table.
As the evening turns into and early night, we hear lions approaching (by their Aauuuughhhhhh! call). Around 2:00 AM, they are outside the tent - just 10 metres away.
I wake up, and see Zera up, smoking, and watching.
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It was almost 2 hours from main camp
to our camp at Chitake Springs |
Earlier, Zera has given us instructions to keep our tents zipped up so "Zambians", a catch all for thieves, cannot see inside to slit open the tent and rob us.  |
It's a pretty rough road to Chitake
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We find this a bit over the top until 3:00AM when a rifle shot (Zera has one while we are on the river), wakes us up. All animal noises are abruptly halted. He apologises to us, but it appears that three shadows have run off with some items from the canoes. They, of course, did not leave their passports so we never find out if they were Zambians or not.
In the morning we find out it was a gas stove that was stolen, and a tent which was dropped, probably at the same time as the rifle was fired........ It appears that sometimes parties like us are actually robbed at gunpoint, but this was on the Zambian side of the river. Hmmm, this makes us feel much safer. |
| our time is spent on killing the Tsetse flies |
We are out a little later next morning
, 8:00AM. Come 9:30, Zera tells us that "Mad Max" is now safely behind us. Apparently, psychologist is also a large part of Zera's job description. I remember seeing a really big Hippo, but expected more of a charge. He points out where he rescued the Dutch guy as we pass another camping spot.
Later in the day, we enter Mana Pools park. Animals everywhere. We have to get up from our post lunch siesta to avoid being walked on by an elephant. Wow! Real in your face life, as promised.
Come evening, and we camp at a beautiful spot on an island. The river is down to about 50 metres wide here, and very shallow with sandbars just down river. We here more horror stories of how crocs have taken clients here (every tour operator seems to have had some disaster of this ilk), and get the full details of how they kill their prey - wrap the proposed meal in their feet, and do barrel rolls down to the bottom.
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Now I'm feeling right at home
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Once their, they let it go, if it shots up for air, it's not dead yet. Hmmm, good to know eh? We all have a fit when we realise Edna, the bear Kayla & I share, is missing. Eventually after much angst and many tears, Ilge finds her hiding (by Aiden), behind a tent. What a reunion!
By this time, just about all anyone can think of, is the shower that's waiting for us at Main Camp just a few Km downstream. The heat, the dust, the sun tan goop, applied several times a day, the river so tantalising but waaaaay out of reach for anyone but folk with a real death wish, all this conspires to make a shower a Garden of Eden, just around the next bend. |
The camp is exactly that.
Situated next to a year round stream, |
hidden in bush for shade.
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Home: a table for eating & meeting and a "bar" |
Camp that night is a beautiful spot with hippos to the right and left. Its been a short trip - about 18Km today, so we are here around 3:30. There is a wild altercation just downstream with the alpha male giving shit to a lesser hippo being. Jesus, these animals can move, even through the water.As I said earlier, it is impossible (for me anyway), to do this trip justice. I'm almost at a loss for words here. Beautiful, incredible, stunning, dangerous...... more, much more.
Our final morning and we drift down the river
. There is a noisy pod of hippos in the main river, so we detour around a small branch
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There is a bucket shower,
a short version of a long drop |
"Be quiet here" Zera tells us as we silently glide pass a truly huge croc (about 6 metres long
) "or it may jump into the boat" he whispers. We are very quiet.It does not move from the bank, I think that maybe this one has some remains of an American girl inside it, and it does not need to get any more human treats in the near future. Sick eh?
By 10:30, we are at Mana main camp, and take the canoes out of the river
, and the gear out of the canoes. Buffalo, elephants, kudu, eland and baboons are all within spitting distance
of the campers.
Cold water showers, but zero chance of crocs attacking you as you clean up. I've had some pretty important showers in my time, and this one was definitely in the top 5.
Zera has everything set for Steve's arrival. There are some camp fees to pay (an incredible $US32.00 per person per night, just to camp here for foreigners), water to take on into a big barrel in the truck, and then we are off into the wild blue Tsetse outback. |
We all kit up (dark coloured T shirt & shorts
with anti bug spray is fine)
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Firstly, Steve takes us to one of the "pools" which Mana (5 in the local language) name is derived from. Seems that the Zambezi is gradually working it's way North, and these pools have been left behind over the millennia.
It's a pretty rough road,
and our time is spent
on killing the Tsetse flies which appear to be everywhere, especially once we stop the truck. These bugs can give you Elephantiasis and is the main reason why places like Mana are still wildlife preserves: European animals (and people), simply die here. They are pervasive and draw blood when they bite you. It was almost 2 hours from main camp to our camp at Chitake Springs, and we hardly noticed it as we were constantly busy with killing these bugs.
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We head out on foot into Mana park.
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The camp is exactly that. Situated next to a year round stream, hidden in bush
for shade. Its totally camp and everything here except washing water is brought in on the truck. It finally feels like we are tourist dudes here. There are 3 guys to look after us: two for the camp and Zera. Steve, his son Chris and his girlfriend are our guides.
We have pretty luxury accommodation: three two man tents for us tourists, totally enclosed with a heavy groundsheet to keep out any unwanted pesky critters and a camp bed each. There is a bucket shower, a short version of a long drop
, a table for eating & meeting and a "bar".
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| This is what Mana is all about! |
The bar is a large box containing ice, beers and pop. We descend on it and kill a fair portion of it within 15 minutes - cold beer in a hot climate, especially after 4 days with just tea and warm juice, is an experience to get prosaic about!
After our various intros to the cooks, and others, Steve hears baboons screaming, this seems to be a warning rather than a domestic scream which could mean that there are lions around. We all kit up (dark coloured T shirt & shorts with anti bug spray is fine) and head out on foot
into Mana park. This is what Mana is all about! There are no recent lion footprints, only other tourist about a kilometre away. Looks like these other visitors were the cause of the baboon whooping! Dinner is once again, one of Steves mothers dishes, and we eat heartily.  |
Steve is kitted up with an elephant rife, a Magnum revolver, and a bayonet.
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Steve gets out a tracking ariel which he is using to monitor lion movements around the river. Nothing shows up.
Late, during the night, we hear Hyenas and lions fairly close to us. The lions are moving. |
After about 2 hours, we have seen absolutely nothing,
not even a baboon
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In the early morning, everyone is awakened by the racket of the Morning BulBul, a bird which has a really raucous call, and starts about 10 minutes after dawn - about 5:45AM. We have mealie porridge (really good actually) and Steve updates us on the lion prospect. Two lions walked through the camp last night (he saw them by the shower about 2:00AM), so we go into tracking mode, directly from our camp! Once again, we are stinking of anti bug spray (just water and Dettol from a spray bottle), so we need to approach anything we want to view upwind!
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We do stop at an old Baobab which
used to be a leopards hide out
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Steve is kitted up with an elephant rife ("never even fired it in 20 years"), a Magnum revolver (first two bullets are snake shot), and a bayonet. After about 2 hours, tramping through what is undeniably a beautiful park, ripped and bruised and bitten, we have seen absolutely nothing, not even a baboon.
We do stop at an old Baobab which used to be a leopards hide
out, but that is as exciting as it gets. Returning to camp for breakfast, we are no longer too enamoured with this game walking idea.
During the heat of the day, the camp comes to life as there are two Black Mamba snakes cavorting under the dining table. Apparently this is mating season (How do Black Mamba's mate? Very carefully), and they have just come out of their holes about 2 metres away from us to madly gambol etc. |
We spend about an hour just soaking
up the vibes, and hanging out
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We move the dining tables to the other end of the camp, and head off for another snooze in our snake proof tents.About 3:00PM, Steve organises us to go out again, Ilge is not too concerned about going "Come and get me if there are lions within 5 minutes of here" - yeah right.Well, funnily enough, there they were
, 5 lionesses supping on a Kudu killed no more the 30 minutes before we get there. No more than 200 metres away from the camp. Steve said we would have heard it if we had not been too busy with the Mamba's. |
"Come and get me if there are lions within
5 minutes of here" Well, it was
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Well, we get to within 20 metres
of these animals. You can hear the crunching of bones, and see the lions, heads fully immersed, gutting the Kudu, I've never been this close to an active kill, or so soon after in all my years in Africa.
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Well, we get to within 20 metres of these animals.
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You can hear the crunching of bones,
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and see the lions heads fully immersed,
gutting the Kudu, |
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Just behind us, within 20 metres of our camp
A massive herd of Cape Buffalo arrive
for their evening drink
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The sun sets after another
incredible day
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Dinner of braiied steaks and a bottle or two of local wine (don't ask)
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We spend about an hour just soaking up
the vibes, and hanging out
. Peter and Maureen's final day in Africa must have been quite a top off to their African trek. We of course still have another 4 weeks before we return, but we realise that it will not get any better than this right here and now. Peter is already planning his next trip here, Maureen, she says she will be happy with a river lodge.
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Photo ops time of course.
The family with Zera and Steve |
Dinner of braiied steaks and a bottle or two of local wine and one of our "champagne" a'la Zim, and we end it with finishing off the last of our 15 year old Malt. Wishing Zim and it's peoples better times ahead. |
Next morning, up early to break camp
Everything has to be packed |
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| and loaded into the truck or one of the trailers. |
Next morning, up early to break camp. Everything has to be packed and loaded into the truck or one of the trailers.
No trace of the camp is going to be left for others to know it ever existed
Photo ops
time of course.
For Peter & Maureen, all they have to do is get back to Harare - lift provided by Steves mother, we have to go back into active tourist mode, ie, looking after ourselves. |
| once again accompanied by Tsetse flies. |
It's a long rugged road
out of the park, once again accompanied by Tsetse flies
. By 9:30AM, we are back in Makouti, The van is still safe, it costs me $1.00 for five days of parking. The final details of finishing our trip, organising fuel, drinks, food etc are completed. Now it's time for our giant leap to the Vumba, 550Km away. It will be dark well before we get there, but Zim does not have the dread of night travel that South Africa does.
Come 10:30, we have said our many fond farewells and goodbyes, wishing Peter & Mo a safe trip back to TO, and are out and on the road again. |
It's a long rugged road out of the park,
By 9:30AM, we are back in Makouti, |
Whatever experiences I may have after this week here in Zim, this part of the trip will always stand out. Life here (at least this authors tourist's vision of it) stands in stark contrast to the "civilised" doldrums of our western lifestyle. It really cannot get any better than this!
Odometer: 311037 Distance Travelled: 160Km Trip Distance: 75Km, Total Trip 5360 Km
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