Mana Pools National Park Holidays

Canoeing trips on the Zambezi normally take place in the afternoon when you’ve got the sun on your back and you’re just flowing down the River Zambezi. You can canoe yourself or you can be accompanied. Fishing, on a catch-and-release basis is best in the morning.

Canadian-style canoes made from fibre; two-man seaters or three-man seaters depending on the number of people are used. 

You may find elephants feeding by the river and sometimes they may cross right in front of you. Keep an eye on the shoreline as lions, waterbucks, impalas and birdlife come to drink in the river. Sundowners are normally set up by the water just when the sun is setting behind the escarpment on the Zambian side. You may hear the hippos honking and elephants from behind you and sometimes you get to hear lions calling.

Fishing is best in the mornings. Fishing is on a catch-and-release basis and done from the banks of the river except during the rainy season when you will fish from a boat. You don’t need to be an expert, you'll be taught by your guide. There’s a large number of bream species, tiger fish, barbel, bubblebarb squeaker, chessa, nkupe among a few of the many fish found in the Zambezi.

Mana Pools is a World Heritage Site. It’s more like a floodplain and it’s very flat so walking safaris are relatively easy. There are many acacia trees that draw the animals to the water and its quite open so you can see them from a distance.

You may see wild dogs, lions and elephants standing on their hind legs which is a rare behaviour. They stand on their hind legs to break the branches off the trees, an adaptation started by one of the bull elephants then the other elephants followed.

As you are driven around on a game safari, when you see something interesting you can stop and walk towards it so you don’t have to drive off-road. You really feel at one with nature. Walking is what every guide loves to do because you can actually get close to the animals. You also get to see the smaller things such as antlion that live underground and feed on other insects which you wouldn't get to see from a vehicle.