Mana Pools National Park shot in 5K

A 5K documentary film shot in Mana Pools National Park, Zimbabwe along the Zambezi River and the border to Zambia. Mana Pools is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and one of the few big game areas in Africa that guests are allowed to explore on foot.

Mana Pools National Park

The Mana Pools National Park, Sapi and Chewore Safari Areas World Heritage Site is an area of dramatic landscape and ecological processes. Physically protected by the Zambezi River to the north and the steep escarpment (which rises to over 1,000 m from the valley floor) to the south, this substantial property of 676,600 ha provides shelter for immense congregations of Africa’s large mammal populations which concentrate in its flood plains.

The Mana Pools are former channels of the Zambezi River, and ongoing geological processes present a good example of erosion and deposition by a large seasonal river including a clear pattern of plant succession on its alluvial deposits. While black rhino has disappeared since the property’s inscription, huge herds of elephant and buffalo, followed by zebra, waterbuck and many other antelope species and their associated predators including lion and hyena migrate to the area each year during the dry winter months. The river is also famous for its sizeable numbers of hippopotamus and Nile crocodile. Resident and migratory birdlife, with over 450 species recorded, is also abundant. Controlled hunting on quota is permitted in the safari areas.

Four Pools

Mana means ‘four’ in Shona This refers to the four permanent pools that remain on the floodplain after the rains. These long pools are a remnant of the Zambezi river’s past meanderings, and attract large populations of elephants, buffalo, baboons, impala and other animals during the dry season. Predators and scavengers such as lions, hyena and wild dogs are frequently sighted in the area.