Hello .....from Mana Pools , Zimbabwe

Mana Pools National Park .....what a place....

Our day started with a 315a wake up call and a 0400 hotel pick up.....so long Kenya, Zimbabwe here we come. We drove about 30min and came to a security post. We 4 had to get out of the van, walk over to a building where we had to walk thru a metal detector. If we carried anything with us it had to go thru x-ray just like at the airport. The driver stayed with the van. They took a flashlight and looked inside the van, and maybe under it like when you come back to the hotel, and then he waited on us. We all got back in and headed to the airport. We understood why we had to head to the airport so early...can you imagine how backed-up this check point gets during rush hour....and even at this hour there were plenty of folks there, it took us about 15-20 min to get through.

Once at the airport we had to clear a check point for us and our luggage, right inside the door. Then we got to Kenya Airways and got checked in and headed for customs. Customs was a breeze but again some of us were fingerprinted and pictures taken and some not...never did figure that out. Then we headed for our gate...but wait, one more check in....then on to the gate. Needless to say they are careful here.

We had almost 2 hrs to wait, but once this airport gets really busy I can see where you could wait in some really long lines. We read, we slept, and I explored a little.

Thought this re-charger thingy was interesting....

We watched as the sun came up and flights left. As you can see we are on the same level as the airplanes...we walked out, got on a bus and were taken to the plane....

walked up the steps and boarded...a little different but it worked.

Part of the Delta SkyTeam...cool

The flight was easy...3hrs long. 1 movie later we were in Harare, Zimbabwe!!

Some really old stuff at the airport..

They don't believe in hooking up to terminals...a jetway would be a treat!

The International Terminal in Harare, Zimbabwe...

Their customs was very slow...we 4 were the last ones through....$60 for both of us, and we were on our way. Debbie met us and escorted us over to the Domestic terminal.

We met Giles, our pilot to Mana Pools National Park...the deep bush. Off we went to Mana Pools. on a 6-seater plane.....

Smallest plane yet....yep, a 6-seater.......

Took him a minute to get all the luggage in...that was a small hole.

1.5hrs later we landed on yet another dirt airstrip....

we were met by Craig, our guide and the owner of this Safari company.

 Got in our Land Rover and off we went through the bush.  It was VERY hot and dusty...almost 100...oh dear, what have we done???!!! We did a small game ride on the way but we were all tired and hungry so we headed for camp, but we saw a few things on the way..

Hippo.....

Got to camp and met the staff that handed us cool towels...lovely.  There would be 4 amazing guys helping Craig behind the scenes to make this a great 5 nites. We got to our tents and looked around a bit. This was going to be a bit different. These were REAL tents...no more wood floor or full baths or fans....we had cots with very thin mattresses and some linen and a bucket shower and a flush toilet.

There was a sink...but no running water, use pails or bottles of water...note pail under sink

Hose running water to the tank...you had to fill it back up after each flush...

The bucket shower...and you walked on wood planks placed strategically on the dirt...

leading back into the tent from the "bath"

Note the big termite mound outside our tent....

We were the first tent...Mom and Shea had the 2nd tent....behind us and behind the big drift wood was Craig's tent....he was rather close in case we screamed I suppose.

Oh boy, and we had picked to be here 5 nites...wow...ok, we can do this. The heat was really our biggest problem...it had not been this hot anywhere....we could do it.

Time for lunch....the table was always set fantastically..

A toast to making it here....it had been a long day....

Spaghetti made with homemade pasta and all fresh ingredients, salad, and focacia bread with real butter. We were going to gain weight here....this was the first of some amazing meals. After lunch you take a mandatory siesta until 330p....1st sweat nap coming up....we all slept since we were exhausted, and we all woke up sweaty...Shea and I wet down our heads, about the only way to sort of cool down. After siesta you have tea time....so funny how this tradition has stuck all these years. We found out even kids in school do this...wow. Then off for an afternoon game ride.

We learned many things about Craig through our time here, but one thing is that he's been coming to this park since he was about 12yrs old...he LOVED the land, the animals and everything about it...and was very serious about keeping it as it has always been. He was like a modern day Tarzan...he knew all the plants, trees and animals. Elephants are his favorite and he'd even named a few. He would never feed them or try to make pets or friends of them, but they are comfortable enough with him for us to get a bit close. He took us to meet his "friend" Boswell...a special elephant. We pulled the rover off the road and got out, and walked a bit.
Craig was always careful...it was a Tranquilizer Gun...

 We found Boswell down by a tree with a baby elephant and its' Mom. We waited just a few minutes and then it happened...he stood up on his back legs to reach into a tree and pull down a limb...it was amazing....

Now that's cool.....

We stood and watched a while....then headed back. Saw some bones and lots of poop.

We saw a Kudu on the way back....gorgeous and something we hadn't seen.

We got back to camp and it was Gin and Tonic time....Abel...the head staff guy was always there for us and he made an amazing Gin and Tonic.

Heading back we saw a few more animals....

The elephants walking on a strip of land across the Zambezi River...

The Hippo coming on land to graze...

Our beautiful sunset and small fire for cocktail hour..

There was a bowl of popcorn and chairs set up to watch sunset over the mountains that overlook the Zambezi River beside the camp.

A nice sunset....now time for that first bucket shower.

As you could see our "bathroom" does not have a roof...so you get lots of leaves, bugs and whatever else decides to come in...it was a trip. Now, if you are a tent camper, you'd think this was the Hilton...but since my idea of camping is in a lovely RV...well.......

OK...we all got showers and headed out for dinner. Another amazing meal...always good and always fresh. The table is set with dishes and glass wine glasses and linen, and 4 candles...our only light....lovely. And our dinner music was all the animal sounds. And...just about every evening elephants walked into camp during dinner to eat the pods falling out of the tree we were sitting close to. Most nights we stayed seated and quietly watched. A few times, they got a bit close and Craig had us get up slowly and move...it was amazing.

We had a wonderful freshly made tomato soup with homemade croutons....followed by fresh vegetables and filet mignon that was cooked in a black pot belly pot over a fire. It was perfect...one of the best meals we've had so far. Then we had a lovely souffle' for dessert and tea and coffee...these guys cooked better in the bush with no electricity, than some restaurants I've been in.

Look at what they are working with ....amazing....a gas oven and very basics....(I got these pics one morning when I skipped the game ride....wow)

Prep area...

Water from the river to work with

Food tent......

Gas oven...see the tank it's connected to??

Washing and making a salad..

Storage...

Clean dishes draining..

During the week breakfast was juice, coffee, tea, fresh muffins, toast with peanut butter, jellies, fruit, yogurt, and porridge (oatmeal)....lunch menus varied from ....hamburgers, salad, spinach and feta quiche, veggie lasagna, fresh breads, wine, and many drink choices.

Dinners always started with an appetizer...cheese soufflé, soups, or fried cheese,  main coarse might be Roast pork, lamb, Roast chicken, Chicken Cacciatore...always with fresh vegetables...carrots, peas, beans, asparagus, potatoes, baked acorn squash and several different gravies and always amazing desserts....chocolate muffins with cream, apple tart with cream, lemon cream pie, Cream Brule'....it was unreal what this cook could do in the bush.

After dinner we'd have coffee/tea and chat...then off to bed...our wake-up calls were 545am....

We slept fairly well...it cooled down a bit, but we were all missing A/C!!!! No electricity out here...we had lights in our tents that ran off solar power....all, very basic. Not sure we'd have booked 5 nites, maybe 3 had we all known what this was really like....and if it was cooler, might have helped...but we were tough and we were going to have some amazing experiences.

We were woken to a warm pail of water to wash up with and a quiet knock. We got up and figured out how to make all this work without running water...face washed, teeth brushed, wet down the head.......check...let's roll!! A lite breakfast and out in the Rover by 645ish....we'd do a long morning ride that sometimes included a bush walk. We'd stop at some lovely place about 930a for tea....can't miss tea time....and we'd have muffins and biscotti....nice little break. Mom, Shea and Denny have grown to love tea...I'm not much of a hot drinker so I stuck with water.  Then back in the rover for more animal viewing.

This park had LOTS of Impala, Water Buck and Baboons....we also saw zebra, kudu, lots of elephants and birds. With camp on the river we could always see and often hear Hippo's, and see Crocs (not the shoes)!!!

We were very lucky one day during a bush walk we found the wild dogs...a big pack with some young pups...we watched for a good while. Craig told us some of his clients come just to see the wild dogs...not sure why, none of us really liked them, but to each his own...we were glad we'd seen them...another 1st.

On our game rides we'd see bones and skulls....

Wow...what a size comparison...

Someone's horn....we learned that horns do not shed like antlers...if they are broken, they are just gone, they do not grow back.

Buffalo skull...

The scenery, and animals were just gorgeous...these game rides were a lot less bumpy than others, but still got very warm and rather dusty.

A Kobus...something we hadn't seen

One morning Craig took them (I stayed in camp) they got to see Boswell again and saw a burial ground...they could see broken pottery and bone fragments....this was supposedly 1000's of yrs ago and over the years the bones have come to the surface....yikes

And tea time was by an old tree that would rival the Redwoods

See the collar around his neck, he's tagged for his own protection.

Amazing.........

Tea basket is on his head..it was a bit of a walk...

On another game ride we spotted this eagle...

And had our tea time by the river...see the hippos in the water behind us...

Always skulls laying around...

And always lots of elephants....streeeetch......

My what big feet you have....

Time for some milk......

Time for some dusting....get wet, apply mud and dust...you stay cool...
Maybe we should have tried this...cause it was HOT!!!

And never a lack of Baboons...but they didn't come around and bother you like the monkeys at Samburu...thankfully...he looks like an old man just sitting there.

He does not look like a baby Croc, but he really was...very small by comparison. Like Sea Turtles, once they hatch they are on their own....live or be eaten...he was still being cautious off by himself, he was not very big, and had already lost part of his tail.

Now these were not babies and there were plenty of them in the river

The dry river bed...it is the dry season...and during the rainy time the rivers waters will come up to the top of the bank, and things are green, instead of this lovely brown...but now is a good time to see the animals they are being driven to the water....which is where we are.

Craig would take us to different areas most of the times...this time we saw this single person microlight machine used to spot poachers. They would fly this and drones to catch them, it's been working fairly well..

We saw 2 herds of Buffalo, but nothing like what we saw in Masai Mara

Some neat ducks by this one little pond...

Always a warthog around...

The only cats we saw were lions....we saw them from afar one day, then up much closer. We sat and watched them a long time...then headed back to camp, as they headed to hunt food. It was getting dark and time for them to move around. Craig said we'd see them in camp later and we did. During Gin and Tonic time they walked right in front of us on a small ridge. We were fine, they didn't want us they wanted something tastier. The close up animal experiences are what made this camp unique.

Time to go find something to eat....

Almost every day or nite elephants came through camp...
One night about 7 elephants came through...it was amazing...they are so quiet, they would be very close before you even realized.

Looking out the tent....here he comes..

Thinking about drinking the potty water.....that's the green tank right beside him

OK...we'll go....

Guess who's coming for lunch???

I see a bucket for a shower...maybe I can drink that water..

Hello Craig....where ya been??

Don't mind me, I'm just after the pods..

Glad he didn't want our hamburgers..

Hey guys...wassup???

Pods...Pods,,,,give me the pods!!

None on this table......

No pods in this tree, but this branch looks yummy.

Knock....Knock....Guess who??

ok...time for you to go...he'd been around a long time.....Craig invited him to leave, and he did.

massive gentle creature so close to us. Craig is very careful, he put himself between us and the animals and also a table or chairs or a tree. He said to always have something between you and them....humm....think my Daddy taught me that too, very good advice.

Sometimes they moved through quickly, sometimes they stayed a while. One of the trees in our camp dropped pods that they loved...and they came for them.

Sometimes they would rest their trunks....I might too, they weighed about 200lbs...

Sometimes they would rest them on their tusks..

I think he decided he didn't want to be our dinner guest this evening..

Then they would wander over by our tents and eat the leaves. As long as they were there we couldn't go for showers...so we waited...as we were reminded....we were in THEIR world...so they got priority....ok, that's fair. One night a hippo stayed a bit too long for Mom...she needed to use the loo...so Craig took her to our tent which was safer than hers...then she had to stay there for a while....it was THEIR world....we were the visitors. 

They have massive mouths, jaws and TEETH...

Each day we saw more of the same and a few new things...and each day it was hot and dusty. The guys in the camp would do any laundry, except underwear, that you left. So, we all left things being very excited to get some clean clothes....only upon our arrival back to camp we saw them drying on a clothes lines with lots of red dust blowing about...hummm, just how clean were they getting...at least they rinsed out the worst of it and the sweat. They would iron them and lay them neatly on your bed...wonderful service, just not sure exactly how clean...but we kept wearing them and turning them in....we only have 3 changes of clothes each...so "when in the bush!"......

Iron and ironing table/board...wow.

One late afternoon ride as we were getting close to camp we saw a Hyena eating a fresh kill ....an Impala. There was another guy watching that worked for a conservation company and he told us the wild dogs killed the Impala, but the Hyena took it away...wow, wish we'd seen all that action.  Then another Hyena came along and after they had "words" they shared....but did seem to have another word or two from time to time.

Hyena's are odd animals that make a wicked and loud sound at nite....and one nite we had 3 come thru camp....2 stayed further away, but 1 helped himself to the leftover  popcorn.

Craig said they were skiddish and if we moved much they would run. So we'd be still and quiet and be glad when we could go to be safely.....into our tents to try and sleep, then up for more of the same...

On another ride we got to see where there had been an old Trading Post....wow....cool.
You could see markings on the clay pieces....some kind of pottery

This was a sausage tree

And this was one of the few pretty trees around since it was the dry season.

Our last morning we had our light breakfast and headed for the airstrip to meet Giles.

Goodbye to the team that made it so wonderful..thanks guys you're the best.

Didn't see much unusual on the way, until Craig spotted lion tracks on the road that led to the airstrip...we rounded a corner and there was a huge lion sitting at the end of the runway. Giles had landed but had parked a bit away.....just as we were about to head down to him....the big lions brother also walked across the airstrip....then they both disappeared into the bush...WOW...what a send off...

See the airplane in the background....Giles told us when he flew over the lion was lying on his back, all 4 feet in the air, wasn't sure what he'd do, but he landed and taxied back and waited on us....too cool

So long Mana Pools, Thanks Craig....Victoria Falls we're on the way