Hi All
The best time of the year to visit any of our National Parks Game Reserves is during the couple of months before the annual November rains arrive. At this time of the year the wildlife returns to the more prolific waterholes and the vegetation starts to thin out, making for easier visibility.
Having visited Machaba’s camps in Mana Pools earlier this year, I was kindly given an opportunity to spend a weekend at their popular Verney’s camp, just a short drive away from Hwange National Park’s Main Camp. Accommodation comprises 10 large, luxurious, designer tents spaced sufficiently far apart to give guests that feeling of complete privacy.
One of the big draw cards at Verneys is the early morning walks led by very experienced, qualified walking guides. I joined a small group of visitors for a comfortable two-hour hike covering just over 3km, stopping whenever our guides, David and Louis, came across interesting topics. We were, for example, shown how to recognise the footprints of an elephant, comparing these to the round outline of our hands, combining with the oval shape of our feet – the same applies to the Elephant’s front and back feet with their proximity to each other determining how fast they were advancing.
In the afternoon guests were given a very detailed analysis of Hwange National Park highlighting the large area it covers (14,650 Sq Km). It was explained to us how the placement of all Hwange’s camps had been determined by the location of major water sources like rivers and waterholes. All the camps are situated in the top third of the game park with the elephant population spreading out over the more southern extremes after the rains.
The bushveld right now is very dry with little nutrition so the elephant are already tearing apart tree trunks to consume the content under the bark. The annual game count is taking place this weekend with numerous volunteers heading off to sit vigil over any suitable waterhole for 24 hours under the full moon.
The condition of the Victoria falls road is, unfortunately, desperate right now so it makes for a far more pleasant trip to fly from Victoria Falls to Hwange using Mackair or similar. The great experience one has during one’s time at Verney’s, however, makes it a very worthwhile trip. We have compiled a delightful clip of Verneys for those of you that are on Instagram. Travel well. Mike G.