Mana Pools National Park

The National Park of Mana Pools lies on the southern banks of the Zambezi River. It was the first park in Zimbabwe to have been declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco in 1984. It is the meandering Zambezi that formed the shorelines, islands, sandbars and landscape of open forests of this park. Mana Pools owes its name to four water-filled depressions made in an old river bed and which now serve as shelters for groups of hippos.

The park is famous for its very large elephants, its buffaloes, hippos, wild dogs and its big cats. This is the only park where the author of this booklet has had the opportunity to observe three different leopards during the same day and to make portraits of elephants with a super wide angle lens. More than 380 varieties of birds have also been recorded in Mana Pools.

The seasons have a significant impact on the life of this park as, from May to November, the dry season leads many animals to converge towards the Zambezi and the water holes. This offers multiplied opportunities for observation and photography of the wildlife.