Canoeing along the Zambezi is a speciality of the area and is a real ride on the wild side. The river can turn from flat and calm to angry and choppy with a headwind into which you have to steer your small fibreglass canoe. This is more than enough to contend with but when a grumpy territorial male hippo decides you are too close and makes a mock charge which produces something akin to a tidal wave, you really have something to talk about when you get home.
Most of the time it is peaceful and scenically beautiful with distant purple hills of the Zambian escarpment on one side and wooded slopes leading to the interior of the national park on the southern banks. Along the river’s edge are wide green flood plains tramped by elephants and buffalo who take little notice as you drift silently by on your two-man canoe.
At the public entrance to this park you are strictly warned that it is offence to take citrus fruits in with you. Elephants have a craving for oranges and will trample your tent or upturn your car just to get to them!
ANIMALS, BIRDS AND FISH
The Zambezi is a life force supporting great numbers of pink-eared hippos and huge crocodiles that resemble floating logs. Many people come here to fish for fighting tiger fish, large perch, delicious bream and slippery catfish.
The succulent floodplains are sometimes over a mile wide and are constantly grazed by elephants, buffaloes and waterbuck. Many other animals are to be found along this river valley and predators such as lions, leopards, wild dog, hyena and jackal have a good supply of food.
Bird life is wonderful with inquisitive yellow-billed kites swooping down to have a look at you and other raptors and vultures circling high in the thermals. Carmine bee-eaters flit about in a purple blur as they emerge from the sandbank pitted with their nesting holes.
SEASONS
Dry Season: June to October – large numbers of animals come to the river to drink and graze along the lush banks during these months. The increasing build up to rain in October creates considerable heat with temperatures over 86°F (30°C).
Rainy Season: it rains intermittently from early November to the end of April and most animals move away from the river towards the escarpment. It is hot and humid with temperatures around 82°F (28°C). Most roads within the park are closed during this period but charter flights operate to two airstrips in the park.
MANA POOLS SPECIALITIES
• Canoeing on the Zambezi
• Walking safaris
• Hippos and crocs
• Canoeing past grazing elephants and buffalo
• Remote luxury lodges
• True wilderness experience
FACTS
The park is 845miles² (2,190km²), on the southern side of the Zambezi River downstream from Lake Kariba.
The Zambezi River forms the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia.
Canoe safaris can last from 3 to 9 days with an option from budget to luxury with basic camping and cooking around a campfire, to top class tents with cots and mattress, cook and camp staff.
This is a malarial area.
