Time always flies by and it’s no different while you’re in the bush. After a resupply in Lusaka and a new stamp in my passport I was ready for another Mana-month! The heat, the dust, flat tyres: for me it’s definitely all worth it. There is simply no place like Mana.
Last year I donated some of my pictures for the reforestation project in Mana. Since the Kariba Dam the situation and the vegetation in Mana changed. And one of these changes will one day turn out to be a real problem, since there are no new trees. Elephants, impalas and baboons simply eat them all. Therefore they tried to grow trees and see how vegetation would change in two small fenced pieces of land. However I was pretty disappointed to see the two fenced area’s were pretty run down by now and not taken care of.
On a brighter note, I had again some great sightings and one day in particular was really great. I was with the wild dogs early morning when they left for hunting. They tried their luck on some eland antelopes, but weren’t very successful. A bit later however they managed to get two baboons (these guys who went for our tent got what they deserve!). First a smaller one and afterwards a bigger guy.
All of a sudden they saw some impala close by, went for it and as wild dogs are pretty successful hunters, they also got the impala. So they left the rests of the second baboon or took what they could carry and went on to the unfortunate impala.
Baboons are pretty humanlike though. Seeing their hands or feet lying there… Anyway the whole morning was truly interesting and I took a lot of pictures as you can see.
Another day I went to one of the remaining waterholes and also that turned out to be a rather entertaining day. Lilac breasted rollers, crocs in an ambush trying to get lucky with some impala, baboons entertaining themselves (and me), a yellow billed stork catching a frog and an impala who wasn’t very happy with baboons either. Jep, the baboons aren’t too popular this time…
The wild dogs are probably still my number one subjects to shoot. I wasn’t alone though. Sometimes it felt a bit like a zoo, so many people around. When it became too much, I went again for a waterhole somewhere and looked for some action there.
And when there was no action, there still might be a sleeping hippo…
One day I found an untouched impala with fighting vultures around. I have no idea what killed it, but definitely not a predator. The vultures didn’t know what happened to them and had a true feast over there.
Another walk brought me to jumping impala’s and waterbucks. It’s amazing how fast they can be and how high they can jump. And normally without too many mid air collisions. In the second picture underneath their flawless coordination turned out not so flawless after all…
Sometimes it takes quite some time and patience to see crocs at all when they are not sunbathing at the shore. But seeing them fish can be pretty cool as well!
They are not the only ones who love to catch some fish. A day at long pool got me some pictures of a spoonbill, some skimmers and herons and a great white egret who dropped his fish. Must have seen my beard…
Let us end in style with some lovely Mana scenery. How can you not love this place…
brilliant Jens
Loved the narration and photos
Some spectacular stuff