Mana Pools 2025 Trip Report

Before I get into this trip report, I want to take you back to the awful year of 2020. The pandemic is raging, we're all stuck at home, and travel is definitely not happening any time soon. With a lot of time on my hands, I decided to buy some 4k nature documentaries to enjoy on my TV at home. One of the documentaries I watched was a BBC series called Dynasties, which follows different animal families as they struggle to survive and raise the next generation.

There was an episode focused on African wild dogs in Mana Pools National Park, and it is hands down one of the best watches across all genres of entertainment. The amount of drama and stakes in that one episode rivaled any Hollywood movie in my opinion.

I had always loved wildlife and dreamed of going to Africa when I was young, but life and other priorities had distracted me from that. After watching that series though, I was suddenly all in on getting to Africa, and here I am 5 years later as a wildlife photographer! Who would've guessed right?

I have been all across Africa many times by now, yet I still had never managed to make it out to Mana Pools in Zimbabwe, despite it being this sort of holy land for me. And more importantly, I wanted to photograph the wild dogs that have made Mana Pools so famous. I had only seen them once before in the Okavango Delta, and I knew that Mana Pools was one of the best places to see them, so I booked a 5 night trip with Robin Pope Safaris with the sole focus of finding the dogs.

When I arrived in Mana Pools, I got some rather unfortunate news; the dogs weren't in the park. They had been staying away from the flood plain in favor of the heavy bush on a neighboring private concession. The main reason was because they had young puppies, and the risk of taking them to the flood plain with so many lions and hyenas around was too great. But dogs are incredibly mobile, so I had hope that they still might move to the flood plain to hunt while I was there.

After a short drive around the borders of the concession looking for signs of the dogs, we made our way to camp. I would be staying at John's Camp, a no frills rustic camp right on the flood plain. This is how a safari should be: a canvas tent, great views, and keeping everything as basic as possible. No swimming pools or spas here, just vibes!

The afternoon drive was unfortunately a bust looking for the dogs. We found some old tracks, but without access to the concession we simply had no way of knowing for sure where the dogs were.

The next morning we had gotten some fantastic news, the owners of the concession had agreed to allow us onto their property to look for the dogs. This is virtually unheard of on safari, a private concession is private for a reason. To be given permission to access it was an incredible act of generosity, and it was only possible thanks to the relationship that our camp manager had with the concession owners.

Despite this, we still struck out on the dogs despite driving around the concession for hours. With thick vegetation and no fresh tracks, locating them was going to be harder than I thought.

I started to feel a bit of pressure now, and while I thought 5 nights would be plenty of time in Mana Pools, I didn't want to completely neglect the other photo opportunities there. So we shifted our focus and headed to the flood plain in the afternoon.

We found plenty of elephants, crocodiles on a hippo kill, and even a sighting of Mana Pools' most favorite resident, Boswell. Unfortunately he was surrounded by other elephants including many females with babies, so approaching him on foot for photos was just too dangerous. But I was happy to at least be using my camera at this point.

Later that night, I was walking back to my tent with my guide after finishing dinner when we stumbled across a buffalo about 5 meters from us. We immediately dropped everything and sprinted to the next closest tent, with the buffalo staring at us in confusion. As one of the most dangerous animals in Africa, accidently walking into a buffalo at night is the absolute last thing you want to do. When they're startled, they charge and don't stop until you're dead. For whatever reason, this buffalo spared us.

I'll be honest, the whole experience had me pretty shaken up. Yes I've gone around the world and photographed lots of dangerous animals, but I had never had such a close call before. This was probably the most near death experience I've ever had, and I was feeling my own mortality at the moment. Let's just say I did not sleep well that night, especially when a whole herd of buffalo decided to surround my tent and graze throughout the night. It's like mother nature was mocking me.

The next morning we figured we'd stop trying to find the dogs ourselves and instead rely on others to find them and then let us know where they were. So we made our way to the flood plain, where I had some more nice sightings, including a side striped jackal, more elephants, and a huge herd of buffalo. I felt like photographing the buffalo was a good way for me to shake off those negative feelings I had from the night before and get back on the horse so to speak.

We then made our way to Long Pool, one of the four main pools here to see if there was any action there. With it being the peak of the dry season, wildlife tends to congregate around whatever water sources are available, so we were hoping for something good in the morning.

There were no dogs there, but there was plenty of birds and hippos which I felt were a good change of pace from what we'd seen thus far.

After a bit of driving, we had gotten word about some lions on an eland carcass nearby. This being Mana Pools meant that if we wanted to see them, we had to go out on foot. In the past I had been a bit judgmental of walking safaris. It just introduces a level of risk that doesn't seem worth it in my opinion. I know how dangerous these animals can be, and trying to approach them on foot just seems to disrespect the space that we should give them for our own safety.

But despite my previous thoughts, once I was actually in Mana Pools I suddenly saw how addicting being on foot is. The sheer thrill of being close to animals that could kill you is one of a kind. Obviously this should only be done with a trusted guide, but even with that safety net you feel the adrenaline rush.

So we made our way to the lions, which we soon discovered included a mating pair as well as another two lioness and a cub. Approaching lions on a kill is one thing, but mating lions, including a big male jacked up on testosterone was a very dicey situation. At one point he even charged one of the females on the kill, probably only 30 meters from us, which was the cue for us to back away and leave them be. But what an incredible scene to witness on foot!

Not far from the lions, we had found Boswell by the edge of the Zambezi River. Apparently had had been speared in the leg by the tusk of another male elephant a few weeks prior, and for whatever reason would walk away from people when they would try to approach him. It was unfortunate considering he's such a celebrity in Mana Pools, but I did get one photo of him on his back legs. It's not a particularly good photo, but at lest I could say I saw him do it.

That afternoon we wanted to ask the Painted Dog Conservation researchers at the park headquarters if they had any information on their location. Driving around aimlessly wasn't working, and no one else had seen them in days, so we needed any help we could get. Unfortunately they told us that the radio collars on the dogs weren't sending out a signal of their location, so without working collars they were just as lost as we were. Not great news...

In the meanwhile, I had spotted some vervet monkeys checking us out near the park office, and thought they'd make for some good subjects since I could photograph them nice and low.

With no updates on the dogs, we decided to spend the afternoon back on the flood plain. There was an elephant walking through the forests with some baboons in the background, which I felt captured that magical atmosphere that Mana Pools is so well known for.

With no other sightings on the flood plains, we went for the safe option of returning to the lions. It paid off I'd say!

That night ended up being rather noisy by camp. There were plenty of baboons alarm calling, as well as hyenas whooping throughout the night. All signs pointed to something making a kill, most likely a leopard, so we set off to investigate first thing in the morning.

It didn't take long to find out what happened. Hyenas were feasting on the remains of an impala, which was probably killed by a leopard and then quickly lost. One hyena ended up running off with what was left of the carcass, and I got a shot I liked.

Afterwards, we spotted a bull elephant with impressive tusks close by the road. Since hunting is still allowed in Zimbabwe, most elephants in Mana Pools with large tusks are collared by researchers in order to dissuade hunters from going after them. It's a great system, but sadly the collars can be a bit of a distraction in photos. But this bull had no collar and no guides recognized him, indicating that he was a newcomer who had come from outside the park. He was very skittish around us on foot, but the huge tusks and lack of a collar made him the perfect subject for the morning.

Later that afternoon we tried to find him again, but he had somehow disappeared. You wouldn't think that an animal as big as an elephant could hide, but they're surprisingly good at it!

With the sun setting, it became a race to photograph whatever subject we could get in a nice position for a silhouette. There was one bull on the move, and I tried to snap what I could as the sun began to disappear below the escarpment.

I also photographed some impala leaping and kicking up dust in the distance, as well as a female elephant with a calf, but to me this sunset photo was the best of the trip so far.

The next day was my last full day, and with no wild dog sightings anywhere on the flood plain, the sinking feeling that I might not see them began to creep in. I tried not to show it, but my morale was plummeting. I came all the way to Mana Pools for these dogs, and to come up empty handed would be crushing.

We found our bull elephant again in the morning, and I took some shots just for the sake of taking them, but I wasn't in a great mood honestly.

When we returned back to camp for the afternoon, we quickly got word from the guides on the private concession that they had spotted the dogs in the morning. They had last spotted them heading towards the dry riverbed of the Chiruwe River, which was the closest lead we had gotten thus far. My guides suggested a plan: walk the entirety of the dry riverbed until we could find the dogs hopefully resting somewhere close by. In the middle of the day with soaring temperatures and zero shade, this was not going to be easy...

We parked at the base of the river, got out, and started to walk. The soft river sand caused our shoes to sink, making every step harder than the last. After about 30 minutes of walking, we had a problem: female elephants with calves.

Each side of the river was flanked by thick bush, and the elephants were on all sides. Completely exposed in the river, we slinked away to the sides hoping that they'd pass. But the elephants were on edge, they could smell us but they couldn't see us. Elephants don't expect to encounter people walking down the river, so they were trumpeting loudly and charging aggressively in frustration.

We would sprint in a zig zag motion from side to side of the river to avoid them, which was exhausting. We'd think we were safe on one side, only to find more elephants there, and have to sneak away again. At one point in the middle of the river one elephant charged us, and with nowhere to hide there was nothing to stop that elephant from trampling us. My guide said that if it crossed the bank he was going to shoot it, and I froze in terror. Yet the elephant stopped right before the bank, and we ran away as fast as we could.

This was not your average Mana Pools walking safari. This was a fight for survival through the bush, pushing your body to the limit to save your own life. After about 2 hours of trekking and no dogs, we all agreed that this was getting too risky and dangerous. We had to call it quits, and then do the whole thing again on the way back. For reference, this is how far we walked. It may not appear that long, but this was one of the hardest, and definitely the most stressful, hikes of my life. Oh yeah and I did the whole thing with all my camera gear weighing 30 lbs on my back. Brutal.

After making it back to our vehicle, we were all physically and mentally exhausted. The heat and the running was one thing, but having to keep you head on a swivel to watch out for elephants was mentally taxing to. But all we could do was laugh, because somehow we made it out alive. This was truly wild, and not your typical tourist adventure at all.

With time running out in the afternoon and no dogs, we decided to take one road down the concession and see if we might get lucky. We turned a corner, and there they were. 12 adults, and 10 puppies. At last, our wild dogs.

After 5 days of searching, and nearly dying way too many times, this was so worth it. I got some incredible eye level shots of both adults and puppies, and I was the only person there to enjoy it. Call it fate or God or whatever you want, but I definitely felt like I was destined for this moment. These dogs inspired me to take up wildlife photography in the first place, and here they were right in front of me. Somehow these sorts of special moments keep happening to me on safari, and it makes all the blood, sweat and tears worthwhile!

The next day I finally had to leave Mana Pools, so we decided to just drive down the flood plain and see what we'd see. There were some buffalo, waterbuck, and even our elephant bull again in good light.

But the real highlight was when we found a male lion dragging a zebra carcass across the road. It all happened so fast that I just wanted to get any photo I could, but thankfully I got some bangers.

With time running out, we made our way to the park headquarters where I'd be catching a boat down the Zambezi River. Most people leave Mana Pools by road or plane, but I was going to head out on boat towards my next destination. And it was surprisingly photographically productive, with plenty of hippos and elephants all over the Zambezi.

And just like that my trip to Mana Pools had come to an end. I had obviously always dreamed of coming here, but I didn't expect to fall in love with it in the way that I did. Maybe it was the thrill of the walking safari and nearly dying so many times, but something about this place just hits differently. And of course finding the dogs on my last afternoon was about as magical as it gets. Mana Pools lives up to its reputation, and I can't wait to return here someday. For now though, it's off to the next amazing safari adventure!