Mana Pools National Park lies in the Zambezi Valley, in the north of Zimbabwe, on the border with Zambia. Mana Pools was established in 1984 and is famous for its high concentration of elephant, buffalo and hippo. This section of the Zambezi is famous for its four lagoons: Main, Chile, Long and Chisambuk. ‘Mana’ means ‘four’ in the local Shona language.

Unfortunately, Mana Pools in Zimbabwe is still surrounded by so-called hunting blocks such as Hurungwe in the west and Sapi and Chewore in the east. One of these hunting blocks (Sapi) was taken over by our partner Great Plains in 2016 and immediately converted into an area for photographic safaris. Tragically, decades of poaching have decimated the animal populations in Sapi, including iconic animals such as lions, elephants and the endangered black rhino, which has completely disappeared from this landscape.

Die Wiederbelebung des Sapi Reservats ist ein riesiges Projekt und verschlingt sehr viel Geld. In September 2022, Great Plains Foundation successfully completed the first phase of the translocation effort comprised of 101 elephants and 184 impalas. This smaller scale, successful translocation lays the groundwork, provides lessons learned and establishes best practice within the team.

Mana Pools National Park, Sapi and the Chewore area together form a World Heritage Site. When it was established in 1984, around 500 black rhinos lived here, but in the following ten years all but 10 of them were poached. These were eventually brought to a safe place. The reconstruction of the Sapi area has given Mana Pools National Park a huge, safe conservation zone on its eastern side, which is managed by a professional company - Great Plains.