12 things you’ll love about Sapi Reserve & Mana Pools

By Roxanne Reid
In the far north of Zimbabwe lies a wilderness like no other – the longest continuous wildlife corridor along the Zambezi River. Here you can explore on foot, by vehicle and in a canoe. If you love adventure, here are 12 things you’ll love about the Sapi Reserve and Mana Pools.

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The unspoiled Greater Mana area includes both Mana Pools National Park (also declared a Ramsar Wetland) and the Sapi Reserve to the east of the park. Together they make up an untouched and scenic UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Here you can channel explorers like David Livingstone or Frederick Courtney Selous to delve into this wilderness on foot, by open 4x4 vehicle and by canoe along the Zambezi River together with Great Plains Conservation. You’ll revel in a world that’s fuelled by your guide’s knowledge and passion for all wildlife, birds, plants and tracks. Cut off from city life and modern-day conveniences, you might watch elephants stand up on their hind legs to reach delicious pods of the ana tree, African wild dogs lope through the bush as they run down their dinner, or lions snooze in the shade on the open floodplain.

Sunset over the Zambezi River

We were lucky enough to experience a rollicking six-day adventure here and it will be hard to forget. Here are some of the highlights to show you why you’ll love it.

1. Landscapes and riverscapes

Enjoy open landscapes of trees and water channels

​The Greater Mana area is a place of riverine forest, floodplains and sandy islands, of mopaneveld and extensive areas of jesse bush – a Shona word for mixed deciduous thickets of leadwoods, rain trees, purple cluster pears, African mangosteen and more.

Canoes on the Zambezi River

There are gorgeous views out over the Zambezi River, gatherings of large ana trees (Faidherbia albida) that are much loved by baboons, impala and elephants for their ‘apple-peel’ pods. These attractive trees are the lifeblood of the valley, highly nutritious and still green in the dry season. If you’ve seen photos from Mana of elephants standing on their hind legs to get at high pods, this is the tree they’re raiding. 

Baobabs on the Sapi Reserve

There are gorgeous big baobab trees, Zambezi strangler figs, sausage trees and mahoganies, in the shade of which you’ll see lots of antelope or perhaps a predator or two. Through it, the river threads like a ribbon, presenting meandering vistas of islands, elephants, buffaloes and hippos with the Zambian escarpment of grey-blue mountains as a backdrop.

Long after you get home, you’ll be seeing these captivating scenes in your daydreams.

2. Remote wilderness
The Greater Mana area is a two-hour flight from Victoria Falls by small plane (about 90min from Harare), followed by a two-hour journey by land. It’s about as remote as you can get in Zimbabwe, an almost unbroken strip of protected, pristine wilderness along the Zambezi River. ​

Feel like you have this Greater Mana wilderness to yourself

​If this excites your sense of adventure, you’ll love this area. Your camp is unfenced and wildlife is free to stroll around as it has always done. Your guides are there to protect you in the darkness as you walk from your tent for breakfast or dinner, but you might have the thrill of lying in bed and hearing animals snuffling, hippos grunting, elephants breaking branches. 

Remote river scenes along the Zambezi

It’s all part of the special magic that is integral to this glorious wilderness area. But if any of this frightens rather than excites you, if the idea of finding a scorpion in the dining tent freaks you out instead of prompting excited questions about their lifestyle, then perhaps this safari adventure is not for you and you should find something tamer, less heady.

3. The professional guides
During our six days with guide Lovemore Chiwara, we saw three of the Big Five (lions, elephants, buffaloes), wild dogs, bush pigs, hippos, crocs and countless antelope and smaller animals. 

Professional guide Lovemore Chiwara shows off his dance moves

​We saw an ant lion kill and Lovemore thrilled us with his knowledge about all creatures, plants, tracks and more. But we quickly learnt that the buzz you get from a trip like this is less about what you see, more about what you experience (see point 4 below) and learn from your guide. 

Look at the size of that single elephant molar compared to a smartphone

Here are some other snippets that Lovemore shared.

• A buffalo produces 200 litres of saliva a day to help with digestion.
• Male elephants produce 1 litre of sperm when in musth.
• You can estimate the shoulder height of an elephant by measuring the length of the back foot and multiplying by 5.5.
• The leadwood trees of Mana Pools absorb too many mineral salts so to survive, they divert them to one branch. That branch dies while the rest of the tree lives.
• Lions can eat as much as 25% of their body weight in one sitting.
• In short bursts, lions can cover 22.5m in just one second. (Remember that the next time you get out of your vehicle where you’re not allowed to!)

Always something interesting to see and to learn

• The face of the African harrier hawk (which used to be called the gymnogene) changes from yellow to pink when they’re agitated.
• You can count the growth rings on a tortoise shell to estimate its age just like those of a tree.
• Hyena tracks are easy to differentiate from those of wild dogs because there’s no space between the pad and toes, whereas wild dog tracks have more gap. The hyena pad is also slightly offset at an angle.
• The bark and branches of the rain tree (appleleaf) are used by the local people for gathering fish – they act as a paralytic, after which the fish can be scooped up for eating.

4. Activities

Getting out on foot is a chance to get closer to nature

​More than 80% of this wilderness is untouched by tracks for vehicles, so it’s a special treat to explore a tiny portion of it on a walking safari to get closer to nature, hear the birdsong, smell the bush. Find bits of broken ivory and guinea fowl feathers lying scattered on the ground, follow the tracks of lions and hyenas, get close to a suckling waterbuck or some elephants lolling about in the water of a pan. See and smell plants up close, learn about the aphrodisiac properties of the snowberry bush. 

Go out on a motorboat on the Zambezi River

Canoeing on the Zambezi River

​Go out on the river in a motor boat or canoe to get closer to elephants walking across the water to feed on an island in the Zambezi and see hippos, crocs and water birds. Your canoeing doesn’t have to be too strenuous – paddle 15km downstream, finishing in time for a drink by the fireside before dinner.

Cover more distance on game drives or use them to get to a starting point for a walking safari

​All this is not to say that game drives aren’t enormously rewarding. They are, especially as they cover more ground. Venture through mopaneveld and jesse bush into the Mana Pools National Park or through the Sapi Concession for a chance to see lions, wild dogs, and elephant bulls feeding on the pods of giant ana trees. 

An ancient baobab where Chief Chikwenya was buried

We got a little cultural knowledge thrown in for good measure, from medicinal uses for various plants to a visit to the 1200-year-old baobab tree where Chief Chikwenya was buried in the 1940s. She was lowered from the top into the hollow inside, using sticks pegged into the walls as a ladder.

5. Wildlife
Despite the lure of adventure, the main magnet here is probably the wildlife, especially in the dry season when animals are drawn to the river and pools to drink. 

Encounter elephants on game drives or on foot

​It’s one of Africa’s most well-known wildlife areas where you have a chance to see everything from elephant and buffalo to lion, leopard, spotted hyena and wild dog; from zebra (Selous subspecies of Burchell’s) to impala, nyala, waterbuck, kudu and the biggest antelope of all, the eland. Sadly, there are no longer rhino in the area. Also missing are giraffe, which have been kept out by the escarpments on either side of the Zambezi floodplain, and wildebeest because there’s not enough grass for them.

We had three different sightings of lions, all on the Sapi Concession

You might be lucky enough to see wild dogs, as we did

​We were wowed by three lion sightings, including a big male. We also saw lots of breeding herds of elephant with tiny calves, a big herd of buffalo, three bush pigs in the early morning, as well as seven wild dogs of the Nyamutsi pack, which we followed for a way on foot – that’s the joy of being on the Sapi Concession. It was a special moment, but didn’t last long as they were moving too fast for us.

Watch elephants snorkel their way across a river to get to prime grazing on an island

6. Birds
Bird lovers will get excited here, with nearly 400 species recorded in the area. 

Grey heron and egret in a tree

​Some of those we saw included racket-tail roller, bateleur, ground hornbills singing a duet, a pied kingfisher hovering and diving to catch a small fish, brown-hooded and striped kingfishers, fish eagles perched on a tree, egrets and herons nesting in a tree overhanging the water, a flock of about a dozen openbill storks flying over, as well lots of bee-eaters, crowned hornbills, palm swifts and the rare Böhms spinetail (swift). ‘People come from South Africa especially to see it here,’ Lovemore said. ‘You can identify them in flight because they fly like bats.’

​Other specials of the Greater Mana area include Pel’s fishing owl, African skimmer, rock pratincole, Arnott’s chat and broad-tailed paradise-wydah.
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7. Pools and pans
Unlike pools at Hwange National Park where the water is pumped, here in the Greater Mana region the pools and pans are all natural. Those that hold water all year round are a draw card for wildlife, making them good places for people who want to see animals. The pools from which the national park takes its name are the remains of ancient channels of the Zambezi River. Mana means ‘four’ in Shona – Mana, Chine, Chisasiko and Long pool. 

Chisasiko Pool in Mana Pools National Park has water all year round

Long pool is aptly named because it’s 6km long and a haven for crocs, hippos, spoonbills and fish eagles. At Chine we saw yellowbill and saddlebill stork, crocs, impala, waterbuck, baboons, fish eagles, sacred ibis and ground hornbill. Chisasiko produced sightings of blackwing stilt, terrapins and banded mongoose.

Baboons feed at a pool in the Greater Mana area

Another pretty pan is Mutawatawa Pan in the Sapi Concession, where we saw lots of birds, impalas and waterbuck, as well as two lionesses and a young male resting in the shade.

8. Sunrises and sunsets

Another magical sunset over the Zambezi River

Almost every day you’re treated to a beautiful sunrise over the river. Sunsets are equally spectacular, with a fiery crimson ball dropping to the horizon before sinking out of sight in a pink afterglow.

9. Stars

Don't forget to look up at the stars in this wilderness area

At the day draws to a close you may be tired from your exercise, drained by the heat or excited by the prospect of another superb meal. But take the time to look up and you’ll notice lots of stars in clear, dark skies. Although the Greater Mana isn’t an official dark sky reserve (see this one here in Namibia), it is a wilderness area so there’s very little light pollution.

One of the best places to see open skies is along the river; just check with your guide where you may walk to stay safe from hippos and crocs that come on land at night.

10. Food and unique set-ups

Part of a breakfast spread - the food at any Great Plains Conservation camp is fabulous

One thing I can promise is that you won’t go hungry when you stay with Great Plains Conservation. Despite the rustic condition of their kitchens, where wood fires, bush ovens and ovens dug into the ground might be the means of cooking, the chefs turn out magnificent meals with the freshest ingredients. I loved that there were fresh fruit, salads and veggies every day to complement the chicken, fish and meat.

A romantic dinner set up in the dry riverbed

Lunch on an island on the Zambezi

Two particular treats were a dinner in the dry riverbed, all romantically lit by paraffin lamps, and a lunch set up on an island on the Zambezi with calmly foraging elephants not far away. Three cheers for the chefs and staff who work so hard to set up such enchantments.

11. Camps and camp staff
Great Plains Conservation camps make an enjoyable place to retreat at the end of a long and exciting day. Enjoy views of the river, eat well, and tumble into bed after dinner and a full day of activities tired but happy. 

Some of the guys who took care of us

When you’re on a safari for six nights, you need to really get on with your guides, safari mates and staff. I’m not sure how Great Plains Conservation has picked their guides and staff, but they’ve come up with a wonderful crew from chefs (see point 10) and knowledgeable guides (see point 3) to the rest of the camp staff who have a great sense of humour. They’re happy to answer probing questions and are unfailingly pleasant and helpful – a huge part of what makes your time with them so much fun.

Our guide Lovemore (left) with some of the other camp staff

12.Conservation
Until 2016 the Sapi area used to be a hunting concession, but now it has been given to Great Plains Conservation to manage as a conservation and photo safari area instead. With its track record of conservation in Botswana and Kenya, the company’s involvement here in Zimbabwe is a welcome change that will help preserve this wilderness for conservation.

Elephants are being conserved here since the Sapi Reserve is now a photo safari area

Should you go?
Overall, this was a great safari experience, providing the excitement of exploring a remote wilderness area, tracking animals on foot, and a hint of old-fashioned romance in the way of bucket showers and paraffin lamps.

See lots of waterbuck

If you’re not on your first safari in Africa – in other words, if you can see beyond the Big Five to the joys of delving deeper into tracks and plants and smaller animals – and you’re looking for an active adventure, a voyage of discovery with professional guides who are encyclopaedias on legs, then this expedition is for you.

Note: I was a guest of Great Plains Conservation Zimbabwe for six nights, but I was given free rein to write what I chose. I paid for all travel costs.

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