We drove across Harare, to a small airfield to catch the charter flight to Mana Pools, on the Zambezi. It was a dirt airfield. They picked us up in the usual Land Rover, and we drove for a while, checking out a couple of the eponymous pools, since apparently the previous guests hadn't checked out yet.
Lots of birds and wildlife on the drive...
An African spoonbill.
An arrow-marked babbler
A black heron
Black-winged stilt
A crowned hornbill
A marabou stork and a black-winged stilt, mostly to give a sense of size.
Eland
Hamerkop
Namaqua doves
And here's just one...
A female Namaqua dove.
An African spoonbill.
A southern red-billed hornbill.
A very warty warthog
A waterbuck
A white-headed vulture
A white-browed sparrow weaver
A crowned hornbill in flight.
A white-crowned lapwing
A white-fronted bee-eater
A big croc.
A crowned hornbill in flight.
Female waterbuck. Their rear ends are distictive.
A somewhat more dignified shot
A white-crested helmetshrike
A black heron
And the formidable goliath heron, with a black heron, again to show scale.
Arrow-marked babbler.
Meves' starlings.
And finally, a mommy elephant, baby elephant and an unfazed vervet monkey.
When we finally arrived at the camp, which is right on the banks of the Zambesi
and found our tent, which was quite livable, we went to the central area to eat. This really is a camp. They set it up at the end of the wet season, and take it down once the rains come.
A yellow-bellied greenbul, hanging at the bar.
An unexpected guest came to visit for after-dinner drinks. Hazel, a spotted hyena, is still wild and alpha female of her pack. She has been befirended by the camp owner, Stretch Ferreira, and stops by in the evening to chomp some bones. Quite an experience to have a wild hyena within crunching distance of one's ankle.
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