Mana Pools September 2017
Its late September, nearing the end of a 4 month winter dry season, as summer approaches temperatures are the entering the 40’s. Rain remains weeks away.
The ever flowing Zambezi River is the river of life that sustains the wildlife that roams through the valley from the 500 metre high Zambezi escarpment 80 klm inland.
Within the river flood plain the 4 pools from where the name of the National Park derives support the river as the local watercourses have long since become rivers of sand.
30klm inland the only water source is the spring water that oozes out of an otherwise dry riverbed at Chitake Springs. All animals and insects are drawn to these water sources , the predators and the prey , the mightiest and the smallest. The dangers are great but water means survival so the risks must be taken.
This garden of eden is the place that has attracted our small team of wildlife photographers to sit for hour after hour in the hope to capture this timeless saga
Of all the African predators , the scarcest, the hardest to locate and the most difficult to film is the African Wild Dog,
African wild dogs are among the most effective predators in the world. They use extraordinary cooperation and teamwork to pursue, overhaul and bring down their prey. Some 80% of their hunts end successfully
Hunting in packs of from two to 27 adults and yearling pups.
Highly social they have complex hierarchies in which only the alpha male and female breed. The pack regurgitates food for the young, and will look after their own wounded.
Hunting is normally carried out twice a day at dawn and dusk and the main target species is antelope but they can bring down wildebeest and warthogs.
From reports prior to our trip we learn two packs have been seen hunting on the flood plains of the Mana Pools Park. We are very excited with this news but as a pack territory can range over 200 square miles we know that there are no guarantees.
Even more exciting is that the guides advise us that this seasons cubs are now old enough to travel with the adults on the hunt.
Self Drive in Kruger National Park
Trip September 2018
Our trip to Kruger was designed as a short stopover of 4 days to get ourselves back into safari mode and reorient ourselves to wildlife photography. A very different discipline to the predominantly landscape photography we do in our homeland of New Zealand.
I had spent a couple of days in Kruger in 2015 so was comfortable that we could drive from Jo'burg and self drive the Park. For my wife Helen it was her first visit and so she was trusting me to do all the planning and organisation. Unfortunately she had also left her drivers licence in NZ (another story) and so I was down for all the driving.
We flew into Jo'burg and landed late afternoon this gave us overnight to refresh and sleep in a airport hotel and set off the next morning for the 5 hour drive to Kruger.
Everything went to plan and we got up early the next morning refreshed and raring to go. The hotel shuttle dropped us off at the rental car depot at the airport and 30 minutes later we had our hyundai 4wd and were off on the 1st leg of our 3 week African adventure.
Being early morning we had no Joburg traffic horrors and quickly made it to the motorway for the trip north. The road was excellent and we made good progress arriving in Malalane at the southern end of Kruger in just over 6 hours.
As we needed to shop I had organised a B&B only 1 km from the Gate so we could enter the park first thing in the morning. The B&B host was excellent and quickly told us best places to get the supplies we needed. A quick shop, dinner and early to bed very excited about the next few days.
5.30 am it was still dark as we packed up and headed down to the gate, we weren't quite first but there were only a couple of cars ahead of us. I had preregistered our booking at Berg En Dahl Rest Camp on the KNP website which meant we were quickly into the Park through security and first into the Park proper. I love it when a good plan executes smoothly, this is not the norm in Africa.
The Malalane Gate is on the Crocodile River and takes you into a prolific game area at the bottom of the Park. Malane is not as busy as the nearby Crocodile Bridge Gate and in general you do not come across as much traffic. We had scheduled the trip to be outside of school holidays and we were hopeful we would miss the infamous Kruger traffic jams that happen on big sightings on the tar roads in school holidays.
A beautiful sunrise greeted our entry to the Park and we set off on our first self drive in the Park, we didn't have to check into our accommodation at Berg en Dahl until 2.00 pm
Only 7 km from Malalane Gate in a quiet part of the park Berg en Dahl Rest Camp was perfect for our stay. We had booked a self catering bungalow and it suited us well. We spend all our time out in the park so somewhere quiet and comfortable suits us fine, we are not looking for 4 or 5 start accommodation.
I have a lot more sympathy for the skills of our guides now, what with driving, spotting game, getting the vehicle into position so Helen could get good photos meant that my own photography took a back seat. But I must say the thrill of finding our own animals and the luck of the hunt, meant I thoroughly enjoyed the driving and acting as head guide. I even tried my hand at recognizing animal tracks on our early morning drives before they were over ridden by vehicle tracks. Helen and I both really enjoyed the freedom of going where we wanted stopping when we wanted to and staying on a siting as long as we wanted. (with due respect to any other vehicles that came in).
We did have many beautiful sightings and very few where there were more than a couple of vehicles. Of particular note was that we saw more Rhino than in any of our previous trips to Africa , with many family groupings and even babies. The Bush veld was very dry and apart from early morning and late evening the lighting was harsh. None the less we both came away with photos we were happy with and a definite plan to return and do a more extensive 10 days south to north self drive of the Park
4 days was a perfect time to get back into the flow of the african bush, we got our camera skills back on track ready to take on the main course of our trip, a 10 day trip to Mana Pools in Zimbabwe. But first a few days in Mozambique catching up with a very good friend.
Return to Mana Pools Zimbabwe - September 2017
In 2015 I had the opportunity to travel with well known photographic guide Kevin Linforth into the Zambezi valley. I was travelling from Kenya to Zambia and a friend suggested if I wanted to checkout Mana Pools I should make contact with Kevin.
Kevin wasnt running a safari but invited me on a private expedition to check out a a new drift boat he was adding and also to travel with him through the Zambezi Valley exploring for a permanent campsite that he was wanting to establish.
I jumped at the chance and flew in to meet Kevin at Kariba and the four day adventure went from there.
jump forward two years and I am now returning to the Mana with my wife as guests of Kevin at his new camp Dhumkawa on the banks of the Zambezi in Mana Pools.
I cant wait to show my wife a special part of the world as Kevin shows as around his beloved Mana Pools and Chitake Springs over a 10 day period in September - Sunpath Safaris
Some photos of the 2015 expedition
