Mana Pools
Mana Pools
is a wildlife conservation area in northern Zimbabwe constituting a National
Park. It is a region of the lower Zambezi River in Zimbabwe where the flood
plain turns into a broad expanse of lakes after each rainy season. As the lakes
gradually dry up and recede, the region attracts many large animals in search
of water, making it one of Africa's most renowned game-viewing regions. In The Mana Pools area, there are four
main pools and several smaller pools are scattered along the river course and
the cliffs hanging over the river and floodplains provide shelter to a large
and varied wildlife population. Long Pool is the largest and extends some 6km
in a west to east direction. Lovely big old trees, mainly faidherbia (used to
be known as acacia albidia), provide a shady canopy with sparse undergrowth.
This makes for easy walking and is one of the reasons why this area is perfect
for walking safaris. These 2,500 square kilometres of river frontage, islands,
sandbanks and pools, flanked by forests of mahogany, wild figs, ebonies and
baobabs, is one of the least developed National Parks in Southern Africa. It
was saved from a hydro-electric scheme in the early eighties which would have
seen the flooding of this subsequent World Heritage site. It has the country’s
biggest concentration of hippopotamuses and crocodiles and large dry season
mammal populations of elephant and buffalo. Aside from the excellent walking safaris in
Mana, the river adds another dimension to any safari as it is ideal for canoe
safaris ...
