Elephant Watching in Mana Pools

I've been fortunate enough to have several special elephant encounters in Africa, but nowhere else on Earth seems more mesmerising than Mana Pools. This magical riverine landscape is the perfect place to go back to an Africa seldom seen in the 21st century.

Every time I take a step, a small cloud of powder-like soil rises from around my boot. It's as if a mini atomic bomb explodes each time my foot makes contact with the ground. I can’t help but focus on this most unusual phenomenon, when I should be looking all around me. I'm walking across the floodplain of Mana Pools National Park in search of a giant, an African elephant that goes by the name of Tusker. This old bull has a pretty phenomenal pair of tusks (hence the name), but with certain guides he is incredibly relaxed, and an encounter is like nothing else you will ever experience on foot in Africa.

After a bit of searching we find him standing in a stand of mopane trees, escaping the afternoon heat, and my guide, Nick Murray, slowly makes his approach. My group and I stand back as a towering elephant stands motionless in the scrub, the only noise comes from his ears as they flap from time to time. Within a few moments, Nick gestures to members of my group to join him. They tentatively approach Nick, and Tusker, and stand within only a couple of metres of this remarkable animal. One by one, my clients take a step back with tears in their eyes. This is what happens when such a magnificent creature allows us such close approach, it reduces us to tears. The only thing I can compare it to is seeing the mountain gorillas of Uganda and Rwanda. The hairs on the back of your neck stand up, and you know that nothing will ever be the same again.

Last year I returned to Mana Pools, and after a fantastic early morning visit to Victoria Falls, we headed to the airport for our charter flight to Mana Pools. Flying along the Zambezi, we headed north-east up towards the vast Lake Kariba and over the Kariba dam before descending into the Lower Zambezi Valley and touched down on the airstrip just above the park’s floodplain. We were met by our local guides Nick and Anthony and headed to Long Pool for a spot of lunch. What a welcome in one of Africa’s finest protected areas.

What is magical about Mana Pools is that when you find certain species of wildlife, particularly wild dog and elephant, it's possible to head out on foot for even more intimate encounters. These moments are unlike any other you're likely to experience on the African continent. It will stick with you for years to come.

With our stomachs’ full, we headed out on an afternoon game drive. As we meandered our way along the dirt tracks we spotted a large bull elephant close by and Nick quickly recognised him as the world-famous Boswell. This huge elephant is famed for his ability to stand on his hind legs and break branches out of reach of most other individuals. We climbed down off of our vehicles and walked towards these magnificent mammals. Slowly making our way closer, you start to feel their movements through the ground, their gentle rumblings travel through your body and the hairs on your skin start to stand on end. There's only one person in the world I would do this with – Nick Murray – arguably one of Africa’s most experienced guides. His knowledge and relationships with the park’s elephants allow for these magical moments.

On this particular trip, our other main focus aside from elephants, the wild dogs, had decided to elude us for days on end. We worked tirelessly to try and find the dogs, searching for tracks, visiting all their favourite haunts, but it seemed that on this occasion we may have been destined to miss them (a first for me in Mana Pools). However, on our penultimate game drive, as we drove back to camp the wild dogs were on the road before us. We once again got down on the ground. Despite the low light, it was remarkable to be so close to these apex predators. We decided we would try and come back again in the morning before heading to the airstrip for our flight on to Harare.

Returning to the same spot the following morning, we found the tracks of the dogs and headed east along the floodplain. It seemed, once again, as if we were going to miss them. Then, sure enough, one of our vehicles stumbled across them right on the edge of the road. With the dogs looking so relaxed, we again climbed out of the vehicle, getting low and photographing the dogs from less than 10 metres away on foot. This is what Mana Pools is all about and just the reason I keep coming back.

If you want to join us on a safari like no other, I can’t recommend our Mana Pools: Wild Dogs & Elephants photography tour enough. It really is a safari for close encounters with some of Africa’s iconic wildlife. 

Browse all our safaris to Mana Pools, find out more about our photographic special led by Bret or contact our team today.