We swung through Kariba for a night or two on our way home, and visited the Nyanyana campsite and Parks office (S16 32 42.0 E28 52 58.2), which lies near Kariba airport and is close to the Makuti-Kariba road. Here, we were greeted by a bright and lively young ranger who seemed determined to project the best possible image he could, under prevailing circumstances. The campsite was neat, if basic; the lodges seemed to be in good repair; and we enjoyed sundowners beside the Kariba lake shore with herds of zebra and waterbuck grazing in the distance (Photo at left taken at S16 32 55.9 E28 53 13.8).
The only problem with Nyanyana is that it lies on an inlet directly opposite the Kariba crocodile farm, with its unsightly row of concrete 'pylons' extending into the lake. There's also one of
To our delight, though, we found that not only were most species except eland still there, but had been reinforced by a massive influx of elephant herds, feasting on the fresh new grass. Mostly, these herds were composed of elephant cows and calves. They'd spend the day in the thickets away from the river, then emerge into the acacia woodlands during the afternoon. We counted several separate groups of up to 70 animals. Some were 'old Mana hands', unfazed by cars and people. Others, we deduced, were visitors from the hinterland and the adjacent hunting areas, hastily shepherding their youngsters into cover as we approached. All were gorging on the new grass - and suffering from a mild dose of diarrhoea as a result.
We also had five separate sightings of lion prides up to 11 in number. Once, we watched as a group of old buffalo bulls sent them packing; another time, Sal opened the back door of Hippo Lodge, where we were staying, to find three lionesses strolling down the track beside the lodge. And we watched dragonflies and damselflies as well; and hordes of dungbeetles quarreling over the ownership of the dungballs they were rolling away from the great heaps of soft elephant dung.
But you can see most of this kind of thing in the dry season. It was the colour and freshness that made it so different; the brilliant green grass carpet where, a few weeks before, there was nothing but bare and dusty ground; a deep blue sky instead of the dry-season haze; the mountains standing clear and sharp instead of softened by the haze; and the thunderheads rearing high over Zambia in the north, and the distant rumbles of thunder from the storms that swelled and died without ever quite reaching Mana.
The fishing - for tigerfish, anyway - was excellent. I fished for about half an hour every morning, before we went out into the Park; and caught and released five tigerfish wighing over 3kg, using chesa fillet fished on the bottom, mostly in channels less than a metre deep. And what really made it so special was that we had Mana virtually to ourselves. Most days, as we drove and walked, we never saw another vehicle. The Nyamepi campsite was totally empty during most of our stay. One or two of the lodges were occupied, but that was about it.
We'd really like to encourage more ZIM4x4 clients to visit Mana during the rains - but with the provision that there's only a narrow window between the harshness of the dry season and the growth of the vegetation to the point at which it's difficult to see anything at all - even assuming all the wildlife hasn't gone south into the hinterland, where it's difficult to locate. It's not the kind of trip you can schedule a year in advance - really, it has to be almost a spur-of-the-moment thing, about 3-5 weeks after the first heavy rainstorms. But if you can take the gamble - or pack and go when conditions are right - it's a truly magnificent experience. The photos I've used here weren't chosen for their merit as wildlife art, but to give an impression of this overwhelming greenness and the riotously lush quality of Mana in the rainy season.
SPECIAL EDITION - MANA POOLS IN THE
RAINS
Sally and I made one of our regular rainy-season pilgrimages to Mana Pools
in December, and we'd like to share it with you, as it was one of the best
such trips we've ever made. We don't normally schedule client tours at this
time, because the timing is critical, so we went on our own - and hit it dead
right. Mana Pools had had heavy rain for two or three weeks previously. The
pans and pools were almost full and the trees were all in leaf (except the
Acacia albidas, which lose their leaves in summer), and the grass was
only about 40cm high, so the visibility was good.
We'd expected most of the tracks to be closed. However, after an initial rainstorm on our first day, the skies cleared and the weather dried out, and within a day or two virtually all the tracks were passable again. This meant that we could explore as far afield as the Mcheni campsites, west of Nyamepi, the Sapi pans and Nkupe areas to the east, and the lovely Chiruwe River, in the jesse behind the A. albida woodlands. Most of Mana's wildlife usually disperses into the Park hinterland soon after the rains begin.
Now for the downside, which has to do with the Parks Authority's perennial shortage of cash. We were greeted with the information that we couldn't have any firewood because the Mana tractor had a puncture. OK, no big deal for us, and possibly quite a good thing for Mana's ecology anyway. But the ramifications went further. The tractor's wheel could not be removed because the jack had broken. If the tyre was somehow removed and repaired, it couldn't be pumped up because the compressor was broken (and was, in fact, in a shocking state, with pulleys loosely wired together, and no connector of any kind). And even if the compressor was working, it couldn't be used because the generator was broken.
One result of this was that all the handheld radio batteries had gone flat for the same reason, making it difficult or impossible to deploy proper patrols. Unfortunately, there's already been some serious poaching of elephant and other species in the more southerly parts of the Park, and we're rapidly getting into the prime poaching season, when it becomes difficult to deploy patrols at the best of times, and often impossible to track poaching gangs as spoor is washed out by rainstorms.
Since the generator's engine was in Kariba, reputedly being fixed, we decided to try and source a compressor through our Zambezi Society collaboration, because the ability to repair and pump up tyres is fairly critical, and foot-pumping even a 7.50 x 16 tyre from flat is a mission, let alone a tractor main wheel. Meanwhile there was, of course, no gas for the lodge refrigerators (all visitors should take their own gas bottles); and no electric lighting either. The up-side to this, however, has been a considerable reduction in the hitherto rather exorbitant cost of lodge accommodation at Mana. And as to whether ZIM4x4 will schedule fixed-departure wet-season tours to Mana in future: probably not. But we will, as ever, be glad to accompany individuals and groups who decide they'd like to 'give it a go'. We'll advise on timing to the best of our ability; but whether we get it right or not is a risk you must be prepared to take!
A KARIBA ENDNOTE
Africa's biggest concentrations of marabou storks in this area - dedicated scavengers that feed on the offal created by the crocodile farm. But wildlife is reasonably abundant, if not at Mana Pools levels, and there's easy access to a pretty - and undeveloped - expanse of lakeshore. Nyanyana makes a pleasant base from which to explore Kariba town itself, refuel and resupply, and visit the impressive dam wall. ZIM4x4 can also organise fishing and game-viewing boat hire, and even sailing on Wharram catamarans, depending on season and availability.
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