We have a couple of days in Harare  before setting off for Mana. We are based yet again at the tranquil York Lodge and have a packed programme. First to see mum’s dear friend Jane Soper, a Zimbabwean she/we knew from Nairobi days. I want to give her a copy of  The Boy from Boskovice so we have hired a driver for the afternoon to take us there, via various abortive shopping forays, and thence to a book launch.

We spend a delightful afternoon with Jane, sipping tea and reminiscing, before Shepherd whisks us off to the Friendship Hub for the book launch of Zimbabwe by Bus – short writings, accompanied by photos and paintings. It is thronged with the Harare Cultural elite. We meet an engaging theatre producer, Zayn, and the Swiss Ambassador, Stephane Rey, on his last official visit before being transported to Pakistan. He knows of Michael Moller and was amused when I said he and his pa rtner Laura should have been with us. The next morning we wander down to the informal market at end of the road and buy all the things we have been looking for, before greeting Jo, who will be coming with us to Mana – her first safari for 40 years. I hope it won’t disappoint!

It will be strange going to Mana without the usual gang – we started with eight but work and illness got in the way, plus a fractured friendship over political views. The latter is particularly sad and I mourn the absence of this formerly dear friend every single day of the trip. Jo, a friend of a friend who is sadly unable to come, nevertheless makes up our numbers and is a most entertaining and fun companion.

Even from the air we can see that Mana is transformed by the good rains – water, water everywhere, and green, although the pans are drying quickly and the grass is already turning brown. The threat of El Niña is palpable. The bush is thick and it is much harder to see animals – many are in their inland hidey-holes, where there is still water.

Back at camp we have been upgraded to the suite tent! We are to be the sole inhabitants after the departure of Jocelin Kagan, a photographer and author of Africa’s Wild Dogs. She has been staying for nine days but has had no sightings, despite Stretch’s best efforts, so she is concentrating on photographing  trees which she makes into embellished art works. We love chatting to her about the dogs, her life and art.

Chilling out in camp

Stretch is on fine form – the jokes and stories flow  – but as ever he’s obsessed with dogs and lions Our whole trip is spent tracking and tracking until we find them, which we do on our last day! But as the saying goes the end justifies the means!

In this case it’s several walks to inland pans looking for dog dens, bashing through thick bush and puzzling over lion tracks going hither and thither. There’s a huge pride of 16 with cubs lurking, and two males, whom we glimpse asleep under a bush on arrival. But the bush is too thick to venture inside although Stretch is convinced they are within radius. At night they roar all around us. ‘They’re taunting me’, Stretch wails. Lion tracks below.

He’s also upset that he has not seen the Boz since the season started, nor JD, my least favourite elephant. The former is a social media superstar for introducing the world to standing on his hind legs to access the tastiest acacia branches; the latter pinned us to an anthill on my first ever visit. Now at least six elephants have learned the party trick and we catch Boris Johnson showing off as we drive in and, later, Paul Newman goes up on his legs for the first time to Stretch’s utter delight. Unfortunately I only captured these moments on video but here we are enjoying Paul Newman in the evening light at Mana Mouth.

With the absence of the star attractions it’s back to birding and trees, which Jo loves photographing. They are special here, especially the baobab and the mahogany. Jo decides Strech has to become a ‘dough boy’, so we nickname him Squishy in his new birding guide persona, mirroring Sean who he calls Squashy! We snap the terrible twins together later in the trip. Annoyingly I have left my trusty bird book in London – it has been with me on all my Zim trips since 2009 and holds all my data!

We are also greatly helped by Abby, a young Zimbabwean learner guide. She is an interesting addition to the team, a committed Christian, who has been to university in the US, worked in Alaska, Israel (picking veg in the fields abandoned by the Gazans after the war started) and has travelled the world. And here she is in Mana training to be a guide! We laugh and laugh over her mis-identification of lilac breasted rollers which turn out to be laughing doves! She’s not living that one down in a hurry,

My greatest birding success is identifying the pearl-spotted owlet from its call and then we find it on a nearby branch. Stretch and Abby both really impressed – I must tell Sean as it was he who taught me the call. My final tally for Mana is a cool 96 – not the best, but not bad when the guide is obsessed with dogs and lions! Bird pics courtesy of Ross. Click on photos for identification.

On the second day, we drive to Mbira Point to strew flowers for Louise. Adrienne, Stretch’s wife, has given us a bouquet as there are few wildflowers at this time of year. The light is low, golden and it’s a magical moment. As the flowers swirl and disappear into the swiftly flowing waters of the Zambezi, a big pink protea refuses to leave us. We feel her presence in this stubborn act of beauty.

On the third day we set off to the wilderness. I can’t believe the number of beautiful pea soup pans, one after the other. We surprise a huge flock of white-faced whistling ducks which swoop and loop around us before resettling on the water.

The butterflies and euphorbia in the wilderness are breath-taking.

Another pan for coffee, where there’s a bull elephant knee-deep enjoying himself. A herd of cows and babies came down to drink. He tries to tag along when they leave but he is discarded (there he is lurking at the back)! Gonaz has left me with residual nervousness of nursery herds, but they ignore us. As we are about to leave Stretch spots a ‘basketful’ of buffalos coming down to drink. They scent us and retreat so we follow them round. There are about 100, including a couple of big bulls with large bosses. And a couple of daggas for good measure.

There are nevertheless some near misses with elephants. One in the camp, who I name J2D2 in honour of his bullying predecessor, blocks our way so we have to hang out in the main camp. We later meet him on our drive and he comes right up to the Landover  – I’m sitting tusk to  breast with him as he gives me the evil eye, before he lumbers round to the bonnet and puts his trunk on it. I film it, and when I play it back I hear myself whispering to Reuben, who is driving, ‘I don’t like this’ while he emulates Stretch:  ‘That’s enough, boy, that’s enough’. Again, only captured on video, but here he is coming for me! Having made his point he wanders off.

Walking remains one of the great joys of Mana even if the bush is thick. It adds to the adrenaline when you don’t know what’s ahead! In this case an old dagga boy! To be avoided. Sometimes you have to hitch a ride…

Coffee stops and sundowners are a wonderful way to enjoy the scenery and shoot the breeze with the team: Hilda, Kirsty, Taku, Reuben and Abby – and a strange helper called Mavis.

On our last day, we finally stumble across – literally, Stetch has gone for a pee – the lionesses we have been seeking in thick bush just up from the flood plain. They growl menacingly as we are pretty close; then suddenly there is a fierce trumpeting and the elephant cows and young (about 16 of them, hearing this, start dashing up the bank to terrorise the lions! We are between them both, on foot, the Landy is a good 200 yards away, and Taku is despatched to reverse it up pronto as this is a really dangerous situation. Never get in-between eles and lions – the former hate the latter. Thankfully we jump in as the rout is completed. Having successfully chased the lionesses off, the matriarch calmly leads her family back down to drink.

We on the other hand pursue the lionesses who we find nonchalantly lying low, alert, but relaxed. Very hard to see them the thick grass, the same colour as they are. It is a fine finale to days of searching.

As for the dogs, Strech is convinced they are denning as both packs have heavily pregnant alpha females. We have a couple of long walks, including to pans near their former dens, but nada. I sense his frustration – they must be here. Then one lunch time, following lion tracks fruitlessly, we come across a whole load of dog tracks in the road and switch to them – success! Round the corner and there are 12 of them lying in the road, the Chitembe pack. Ross bum-shuffles up closer to get some good pics. They ignore us in the main, but are alert to any sudden moves. The pregnant alpha is lying, extended belly for all to see, exhausted. They have been hunting and are full. The day after we leave Stretch tells me he has found the den, very close to where we were looking.  Life’s like that huh – or ‘hey’ as they say in Zim!

But it’s not all paradise. Life in Zim is very much under the control of the Chinese and their local business partners – swanky new airport; 90% unemployment, everyone in the informal sector; loads of new money-laundering petrol stations and shopping centres; building everywhere;  gas-guzzling cars with tinted windows, but fuel costs so high that people have to walk to work; and food prices are soaring. It’s very tough for the normal Zimbabwean.  

In Mana we came across a ranger in a smart new uniform walking some guests, sporting an AK47. As Stretch points out that is completely inadequate to down a charging buffalo or elephant. All for show. Meanwhile no money is being spent on roads, the park’s lodges for rent are abandoned and decaying, new concessions with plunge pools are sprouting in the wilderness areas: money talks. 

Stretch greets workers in the park with an adaptation of the ZANU PF slogan ‘Down with the whites, Up with the Chinese [read ZANU PF]’ which is met with gales of laughter. I fear for Stretch and the future of Goliath camp. It has one of the best locations in the park and is the envy of many I suspect. I hope he can hold out. Just as we hope to return and share his piece of heaven.

Ross’s blogs are available here.

Bookings for Goliath camp can be made here

Thanks to Grandair for transporting us so efficiently.