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Zimbabwe - One Hundred %


ld1

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@@Marks our last two trips to the Selous and Okavango were surprisingly light on Hyena. A few sightings of loan ones wandering around but mostly passing through. They are indeed always up to something and I could have whiled away the whole morning watching this lot.

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@@Sangeeta I wish I'd got a picture of the little lad we saw. A proper Zim family weekend in Mana. Pick-up truck, 8 year old son driving, deck chairs in the back with various adults and his sister on the roof. I confess I was a little jealous given I spent the best part of my chldhood holidays in a caravan in North Wales.

 

I'll be posting some Mana scenic pics tomorrow to end that section before I move on to Chitake. Thanks for the compliments, its the first time either of us have used a DSLR and so we had plenty of misses on the photo front.

@Idi, you did great...not as many misses as I'd ever have. The ones you got of they hyenas were super. I had never seen so many as in Zim and I did not get ONE shot :huh:

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@@graceland Yes, so many Hyena in Mana it was a treat. Just add my Hyena pics to your collection - they were the same Hyenas after all and we were almost there at the same time!

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Great pix of the dogs, especially the one with a dog in the air over the other doggies. Zim sounds really captivating! The fires look dreadful but your photos were fabulous, especially with the spotlight on the ele walking by!

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Mana Pools was a dream come true really. When I think of our very first trip in 1989 on the first bucket and spade flight to Mombassa out of Manchester. Our little two night stay in Tsavo East and West and the difference to this last trip to Mana Pools some 25 years later, I have to pinch myself. I was very lucky to go when I was quite young (21) and although there was a long hiatus before I returned after that first trip I always knew I would. I know I will return to Africa again and again for as long as I can, but this last trip well it just felt the best yet and if for some reason I could never return I wouldn't feel cheated. Its a pretty special place but oddly not for the typical reasons such as remoteness, lack of people, stunning vistas or unusual, rare or prolific game (although its certainly prolific), Primarily is the walking, the freedom and spontaneity this brings is without description really. Perhaps why so many fall for Mana Pools' charms and return again and again. I don't often return to destinations as the world is so big and there is never enough time or money to see it. Without a shadow of doubt though I'll be back in Mana as soon as I can.

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Mana Pools was a dream come true really. When I think of our very first trip in 1989 on the first bucket and spade flight to Mombassa out of Manchester. Our little two night stay in Tsavo East and West and the difference to this last trip to Mana Pools some 25 years later, I have to pinch myself. I was very lucky to go when I was quite young (21) and although there was a long hiatus before I returned after that first trip I always knew I would. I know I will return to Africa again and again for as long as I can, but this last trip well it just felt the best yet and if for some reason I could never return I wouldn't feel cheated. Its a pretty special place but oddly not for the typical reasons such as remoteness, lack of people, stunning vistas or unusual, rare or prolific game (although its certainly prolific), Primarily is the walking, the freedom and spontaneity this brings is without description really. Perhaps why so many fall for Mana Pools' charms and return again and again. I don't often return to destinations as the world is so big and there is never enough time or money to see it. Without a shadow of doubt though I'll be back in Mana as soon as I can.

@@ld1

 

You described Mana beautifully. We won't return as my husband will not repeat trips (well I could return...maybe with an ST;r or so) but the Mana experience walking was exceptional and we still mention it daily as we proceed with sundowners; now a ritual.

 

That, as you say is why it is so special. Jud and I crave spontaneity and plan our adventures hoping for such.

 

Looking so forward to your Chitake adventure. We missed out on that one. SO...maybe we will return; we have not been. :)

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@Id1 - It's not uncommon for a big, old or dominant individual to have a defining injury...it's tough at the top! Great captures of her, and sad to hear recent trips were hyaena-lite! :( No true safari without them for me...they add a essence to Africa even the most hardcore disliker can't deny!
She reminds me a bit of the old, infamous half-blind hyaena at Lebala / Lagoon at I was told about at Kwando, apparently a large, powerful and aggressive individual known for tackling other predators and stealing their kills!

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@@ld1

I really like hyena as well - and you have some great pictures of them. Also wonderful sightings of dogs with excellent pictures.

I am sure that everyone has lots of photos that are blurred or shaky (or show the bush that the bird was in) - and I can identify with not wanting to delete them!

 

Very enjoyable report - you obviously love the place!

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@@graceland you should go to Chitake, its a very different experience to Mana and well worth dragging Mrgraceland back for. You can then sneak a few days on the flood plain too - just stay at a different camp!

 

@@Kitsafari @@Big_Dog and @@TonyQ Thanks for the kind words, we did see a few lone Hyena on the past trips but nothing like the sightings we had in Ngorongoro and now in Mana. They are exceptionally interesting and not quite as difficult to keep up with a the wild dogs!

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We walked in some wonderful locations in Mana Pools most of which I didn’t catch the name of, but Acacia Point and Croton were beautiful highlights and devoid of humans other than ourselves. It’s a bit of a wrench leaving the flood plain, but we know we’ll be back for a couple of days at Chikwenya so we went to say good bye to the game and then we headed to Chitake Springs and its wild reputation.

 

With thousands of photos I think I’ll just let a last few of the Mana Pools ones do the talking for me.

 

Creeping up to vultures enjoying a brunch.

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Doug doing his thing

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Eland en-route

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The best Ele photo I'm ever likely to take in a lifetime.

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We couldn't stop, too cute!

 

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We had a couple more lion encounters on foot, one where we spotted a young couple walking "paw in paw" as it were and we followed for a while but they clearly wanted "to be alone". We kept our distance but it was very exciting to be tracking them on foot whilst on the move. Followed by our sighting of three ladies who were sat lounging for a while before heading out into grass too long for us to safely follow.

 

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That special light...

 

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....and some of the old boys

 

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Including these two old Mana Pools bulls.... :)

 

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Great shots@@ld1 You definitely captured Mana..and that baby elie. Don't you just love them to pieces!

 

So many antelopes loping about; I had not been to a place where I saw them in such groups; normally for us its one here, one there!

 

Look forward to our miss, Chitake!

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Days 7 – 9 Chitake, Cheetah and Chairs

 

Ah, there’s a glitch, there has to be one this is Africa after all. Someone has beaten us to Chitake 3 so now we are up at Cathedral. It’s a bit of a shame we aren’t down at the spring but its a beautiful campsite with amazing views.

 

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Chitake has an ancient feel to it, a sacred site for peoples of the past I am sure. The Cathedral campsite itself with its 12 Baobabs is littered with pottery from past inhabitants and it’s certainly a site that deserves proper excavation. We were lucky enough to share the site with a troop of very relaxed baboons on the first day (for some reason I took not a single picture of them). They were already ensconced around the tents and in the baobabs when we arrived and it was great to be amongst a troop that were neither troubled by us nor trying to pinch stuff. The next morning one of them pee’d on me as I brushed my teeth, so they were only well behaved to a point!

 

A standard mobile tent

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Ninja sharp organisation skills required to live in, packing cubes a must!

 

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The spring itself feels pre-historic and walking through it felt like treading in the footsteps of long since passed ancestors and creatures that no longer roam the earth.

 

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Morkel Erasmus

Enjoying the report so far. Love the buzz of seeing the dogs on the hunt in Mana, eh?

Don't let Stretch see you calling him an old boy of Mana, haha ;)

Edited by Morkel Erasmus
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@@Morkel Erasmus Yes, the hunt was very exciting and we saw two this trip, one still to come!

 

I couldn't resist the photo of Doug and Stretch, we saw him a couple times out and about on his own. Its such a pleasure to see guides enjoying the sightings alongside you. Technically I called them a pair of old bulls, which I hope befits their status alongside Boswell as legends of Mana Pools.

Edited by ld1
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@@ld1 Looking so forward to Chitake and thanks for sharing the tents as well. I like to see where I'd be sleeping. Lovely spot as well....it does indeed look very prehistoric.

 

Don't you love being out in the middle of nowhere surrounded by its' inhabitants :)

 

Looking forward to more.

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@@graceland Hopefully the pictures above are sufficiently different to the flood plain to convince Judd to make a return trip.

 

I do indeed love being in the middle of nowhere surrounded by its' inhabitants. Doug told us stories of people rolling up to Chitake and leaving an hour later because nothing was happening. Its definitley a place for meandering a little on foot, then sit, sit some more and then sit a bit longer. You would love it!!!

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The day we arrive we go in search of an elephant that Parks say has been killed by Lions. When we get to it we aren’t so sure. Parks have been and removed the head already, but the carcass looks to have an exit wound and it’s rather a big Ele for a lion, even a group of them. We surmise it may have been shot by poachers elsewhere and made it to the spring to drink, but didn’t make it out. Who knows, but it was a sobering sight either way. Getting close to an elephant whilst alive is joyous event, getting close to a dead one is unsettling to every sense.

 

You can see what looks like an exit wound to the left of the ear, it was distressing to see an ele like this and so I apologies for posting the image but it was a very memorable part ofthe trip so felt I should put it out there.

 

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We retreat to a favourite spot of Doug’s down the steep bank under a tree. The boys doze as I watch the baboon, impala and a few birds mooch around the spring. It’s a really wild place and you can feel the permanent tension in the air, as if something big might happen in a split second.

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That night the air is alive with Lions and an Ele in the distance trumpets. We aren’t sure if it’s the bush fires or a funny turn in the weather, but there was definitely a bit of strangeness in the air and Chitake definitley comes alive at night!

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Chitake certainly does come alive at night. That is part of what makes it so special.

 

Your description of "a permanent tension in the air" is very accurate. It is definitely one of my favourite places in Mana and I will be back there next year.

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@@ld1 is that a skeleton of a large animal in the chitake springs (2nd last pix) in #37? that ethereal atmosphere is well captured in your eland pix.

 

that baby ele is precious! such a joy to watch the innocence in the young ones.

 

and thanks for the pix of the mobile tent. it'll be useful when we consider Mana sometime in the unknown (hopefully near) future. ;)

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@@Kitsafari The skeleton is a Buffalo and I have a better pic of it to post. The smaller standard tents at Chitake are fine, but a bit of a squeeze for two. I could cope with three nights but would have struggled for all nine. I would defo go with the the bigger tents in Mana they are pretty luxurious for camping.

 

I am reading your SLNP TR, looking forward to Takifa as that was where we were heading before we diverted to Mana. I hope to get there and Mwaleshi one day!

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@@ld1 I love Tafika. the atmosphere was so great and everyone there was so cordial....

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@Id1 I'm really enjoying your TR - great photos of the buffalo in post #35 - the baby ele is uber cute.

 

Your photos capture the quality of the Mana light so well.

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@@Kitsafari Oh dear that sounds like I might start to obsess about Tafikia again :-)

 

@@Treepol Thanks for the compliments, I wish I could take credit but I suspect its pretty hard to take a rubbish photo in Mana, a blurred one yes, a rubbish one not really. They make the entry level DSLRs idiot proof these days!

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The baobab campsite looks perfect.

Sad about the ele, but I think it was the right decision to post...it is good for us to be reminded sometimes that they are in danger, as it can be easy to forget in the TR forums where we see countless photos of wild herds in great health.

Looking forward to more.

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