Africa's Eden: Mana Pools National Park
Welcome to mana Pools National Park, Zimbabwe. on foot with wild dogs hippos, crocodiles about seven or eight years I've been dreaming of coming here it's been fantastical, ethereal , magical, all the big words you got to keep your wits about you here here there's no ways you can just drive past that after 4 days of traveling from Johannesburg we have finally made it to Mana Pools national park right in the north of Zimbabwe our journey took us through Stockport border poost to spend a night in Francis Town Botswana before Crossing into Zimbabwe at Plumtree from there we had nights in both Bulawayo and Chinhoyi overall the trip was a breeze but this last stretch to Mana Pools does require some concentration and level head slow and steady wins the race. sometimes it's best to just literally go off the road and let these trucks go past they are crazy the drive to Nyamepi Camp includes endless mopane forests which eventually give way to open dry flood Plains and the famous woodlands where gigantic Trees lead you to the mighty Zambezi this is where we'll be camping for 7 nights and the welcome could not have been more appropriate what a welcome to Mana Pools some of you might recognize that face we've just checked in we're on our way to the campsite now and I'm honestly a little bit speechless looks beautiful How's this for a campsite on the Zambezi oh my gosh this is home for the seven next seven nights yeah that's it hey there's Zambia on the other side hey Zambia we're all settled in we've got an amazing spot right on the zambezi river apparently there are wild dogs around and some Lions we've already had a bunch of elephants coming through Camp so let's see it should be beautiful we got to be on foot with wild dogs in Mana Pools on the very first afternoon what a privilege did I mention that we are allowed to get out on foot with these animals as long as it's safe and we are very careful and uh we abide by the rules we are allowed to get out and go eye level get that shot you really want unfortunately we couldn't spend too much time with them we've got to get back to camp but it was well worth getting out to to see them you know you never know they they might not be around for the next week and then that's that you know. so let let's call this day one I've gone East from Camp the sun has just risen there's just shades of blue through the trees here these giant ancient trees and there's warm lights coming through in areas it's just unreal it really feels like some kind of magical Fantastical madeup place what I'm doing today is just taking it very slowly and just kind of I guess doing the exact opposite of yesterday where uh we were all in a group we went West and we were kind of rushing to see the dogs before before closing time and it felt a little bit anxiety inducing to me at least um so I just really wanted to make a point of taking it easy and doing the complete opposite this morning I've just spotted a friend Tabby and Vil have found a gem wow we had skimmers skimming past oh my word kites fighting with herons over fish stuff like that this is next level I might spend some time here with you guys so lekker hey, ja you're welcome to this is long pool and there are hippos crocodiles tons of yellow billed storks saddle billed storks Kingfishers uh you name it African skimmers which is an absolute first for me I'm just hoping to photograph or film them now I think this is where the magic lies being on foot with Africa's wildlife I'm a little bit south from any water at the moment and instantly animals become scarce so it seems like there's a pretty big emphasis on animals being near water here especially this time of the year we are towards the end of the dry season and it has been a little bit droughty I guess uh we're in September so it's super dry some of the pools are even dried up um so a lot of the focus will be around Long poool which we just visited now uh there is another one a little bit West from from camp and of course anything near the the actual zambezi River itself will be quite busy with things like elephants General game and with that hopefully some predators over the next week or so evidence of the el nino induced drought is everywhere for some elephants fallen leaves are a good option at this time of the year for others the vegetation in Camp is irresistible so we're just relaxing at camp and suddenly there's quite a few elephants around including this collared boy has just come down for a drink there's never a dull moment here and um you can quite easily just spend your whole day sitting here and appreciating the things that come and go bird life hippos in the river this guy's drawing quite a bit of attention here so for many people when Mana pools is mentioned the picture that comes to mind is an elephants or elephants dwarfed by Massive trees with amazing light filtering through those trees and I think that's an image or at least a scene that I'm going to be looking for this afternoon there's something so special about that perfectly straight browse line at the bottom of the canopy of these trees just gives it such a a refined perfect look that's pretty much as high as the antelope can feed so that's what creates that perfectly straight line all right honestly I would say that that afternoon was mission successful regardless of the perfect scene or not everything here seems to be imperfectly perfect and this afternoon proved that elephants everywhere amazing different colors of light everywhere friendly people everywhere and we got to share that Sunset all together um just to wrap up a beautiful day this morning we are heading back to Long pool long pool is the only pool that has a good amount or decent amount of water in it at the moment being in the the end of the dry season and we've decided to all together go in Convoy and have a a very slow start in the morning there have a coffee and see what unfolds in front of us now the the big prize at least for me would be to photograph or or get a nice video of the African Skimmer how cool is that hey? Yoh so the elephant bulls have been a little bit naughty at camp today they flattened someone's tent they opened a few cooler boxes it's been quite interesting but this afternoon our main goal and it's a bit of a long shot is to find Boswell so Boswell and uh a number of other Bulls but mostly Boswell himself who's a collared elephant bull here tends to stand on his hind legs and reach up towards some of the trees here and it makes for a very picturesque moment it's one of those classic mana pools moments but basically aiming for the stars and will probably end up landing on the moon what these skillful Bulls are going for are the Ana trees these arching tree trunks lead to delicious seed pods which are too high for elephants to reach. well, most elephants. we have a reacher not a stander close but no cigar so last night we had a pretty large hyena just Milling through our campsite and this morning as things were just starting to lighten up we had a massive hippo just strolling through the whole campsite and came down here back into the water for the day very intimidating so you got to you got to keep your wits about you here after hearing some interesting news about lions hanging around in a specific spot further west we have decided to all just Drive West until we can't go west anymore we met up to count both our wins and losses before calling it a morning unfortunately the first few nights in Camp were a bit noisy but now we arrived back to Nyamepi in its true peaceful form I think it's time to just take a little stroll through here I'm only doing this now because over the weekend from the day we arrived here there has been a game Count going on where a whole bunch of volunteers come and stay at Nyamepi for free on one condition that they help the park management count how many animals there are in this area and I believe it's mainly for the for the elephants speaking of elephants just through there as an elephant just feeding away and uh that has been a common theme here in the camp you'll see many videos online of people just relaxing in Camp with elephants walking by it's quite an experience it is fairly safe as long as you don't provoke them in any way and and don't have any fruit lying around in fact do not bring fruit at all even a walk to the bathroom becomes an adventure how cool on the topic of ablutions they are extremely basic and a little bit rundown to be honest but showers are working toilets are working just bring your own toilet paper and all that but otherwise what you can see is a very very quiet campsite it is large I believe there's about 30 or so actual sites we are just over there under that beautiful Shady mahogany tree overlooking the zambezi and that's number 16 it's almost time to head out for a short drive then what we're going to do is meet up at a beautiful Viewpoint just to the east of Camp, have a nice sundowner right we're going on a walk this morning arguably the best way to experience the bush this should be fantastic that's Lovemore, our passionate and knowledgeable guide for the morning this was the perfect opportunity to experience Mana pools with all of our senses as he led us South towards long pool so this guy came out of the river and just never made it back? Yes yeah there seeds oh there stones I think she thinks it's the stones those are stones baba no there's no seeds in here my darling That was so cool we're looking for those Lions again you know what the thing is you set out to go looking for something specific and you end up getting distracted by scenes like this there's no ways you can just drive past that yeah champagne problems once again we did it did it once again you look for something you find something else so I turned around to slowly start heading back to camp and I noticed uh a number of game viewers as well as Francois car parked on the side of the road and they were empty and I just slowly went down the road looked through the binos saw a few people with their their cameras up and from what looked like a drainage line just this large trunk just reaching up into the air in front of them and uh it clicked Boswell he is just as impressive if not more than they say and I actually think that collar suits him very well let's get back to Camp yes it was a very quiet night at Camp especially compared to the night before we had uh elephants giving us problems I slept through it pretty much but Francois had to chase it off with a pot and pan in his underwear apparently it was quite a quite a situation as soon as I woke up this morning the thought of only two full days left here popped into my mind and it wasn't a nice feeling so yeah I'm just going to really try to make the most of these last few days I've got a slightly earlier start this morning I'm heading east from Camp not really to find anything specific but just to explore an area which I do think is really beautiful and I haven't checked it out in the morning just yet it's one of those afternoons where you could easily just sit and Camp skip the drive and enjoy everything that's happening around you but I've got a little bit of fomo after missing out this morning on an elephant that goes by the name of Fred Astaire he's another one who who has the ability to go up onto his hind legs and reach for the the ana trees uh let's see if we come right We were just driving along off this elephant sighting in my clutch seems to not really be working anymore so now uh I think we're going to have to go find a mechanic What do you think might be wrong there? they found a leak on the hydraulic system I reckon we're going to get off scot free here okay copy that Francois, we will be back as quickly as we can okay six hurry ups just 20 minutes earlier a legendary man named Givers arrived at Nyamepi despite not even being on duty yet he was more than ready to help it goes in this pipe for the breaks then the middle piece which is this one it goes the clutch got a line that runs in there that controls the hydraulic pressure to your clutch so that that pushes the clutch out essentially when you apply pressure so Givers found a leak on that line there givers was quick to find a leak coming from the accumulator a bolt was broken inside this part and had to be replaced but first he had to remove it we be turning the bolt then it will come out it seems it's it's turning can I have a small screwdriver let's try it is it turning yes it is it is turning you're coming off so light here there we go Byron well done for contributing some toilet paper thanks because you never know when you'll need it it this is a proper team effort if I was fitter this would have been 10 minutes quicker. Hold down hope Byron appreciates that my head is where his butt sweats keep it down okay strangely enough I'm grateful this happened it gave us a chance to experience true Zimbabwean friendship you know it's a Vegetable oil yeah that looks really good my car stayed with givers overnight which meant this morning I'll be riding with Francois and Steph what we found at Sunrise reminded me of something despite this young elephant being born like this the patience and help from the others means that it still has a good chance at life I've noticed throughout this journey that the elephants here much like my new friends are natural born givers.
Byron! Your car's fixed! today is a good day it's a good day do you think it's safe to drive to Jo'burg yeah but when you get there get a new piece Even Boswell was kind enough to stop by one more time before our final afternoon drive it's pretty crazy to think I decided one day to take a day trip to Pilanesberg and film it and see what happens and uh just a little over a year later I'm in Mana pools in another country just like living the dream oh man it's been Fantastical ethereal magical all the big words my expectations were high and they've still been exceeded by a mile and that's quite special considering we haven't seen lion or leopard we had a brief sighting of wild dogs the park and General the little moments the elephants the trees the light the bird life the company the Zimbabwean people I just want to thank Villiers Steyn the Safari Expert for inviting me on this journey and Drive Botswana who actually made this whole trip possible for all of us and last but not least to you without you guys this is not possible I know it's very cliche thing to say but it's true and if you're new here and you're enjoying this video and any other videos on the channel then please subscribe so you don't miss anything in the future there is so much more to come
2024-10-26 17:11
