Selous - Lake Manze Safari Camp
The
call of the fish eagle stands out above the rest and
that noise will always remind me of Africa. Boat trips
on the lake and surrounding waters were a speciality of
this camp and late afternoon ventures onto the waters
were a little relief from the heat and humidity of the
day, as there was a breeze that picked up when on the
water. The strength of the sun here should never be
ignored a good hat and plenty of sun cream are a must
and are of equal importance as your camera kit.
It‘s a good place not just for water birds but there are
plenty of Hippo pods plus a scattering of Crocs and
Water Buffalo around the Lake, it adds a completely
different perspective to a traditional safari by
vehicle.
Insects were abundant and their existence is reason
why the migration of bird life from the north takes
place. The most spectacular experience was being
surrounded by dozens of Carmine Bee Eaters which
flew around and encircled the vehicle, as the grass
hoppers and a wealth of other insects were disturbed
as we travelled over the road tracks through the
grass. The terrain and fauna in Selous did vary from
one area to another, the area around Selous Safari
Camp was very sandy whilst the area near Lake Manze
Camp was more soil based, this impacted greatly on
the vegetation and the variety of wildlife.
Each
day followed a similar routine, up at dawn and into
the safari vehicle before 7 o’clock. Every safari
venture, be it by vehicle or by boat was just my
wife and myself, this was a privilege we had seldom
experienced before, the norm would be to travel with
other tourists and sometimes a safari vehicle would
be filled to the brim. The reason was mainly because
we were travelling at low season and most camps had
plenty of capacity. From a photographers point of
view it meant I had the back seat to myself and
could shoot from one side to the other with ease
with nobody getting in the way.
After several hours exploring the surroundings it was time
to find some shade and enjoy a welcome ‘Bush Breakfast’,
if you’ve not had this opportunity then put it on the
list of things to do, it’s an experience not to be
missed. The rest of the morning would be spent searching
for game then arriving back at the camp about half hour
before lunch, by this time the temperature and humidity
was taking it’s toll and a rest and clean up was in
order. After lunch a knap was very attractive then being
ready to depart again to the boat about 4 o’clock,
returning back to the camp for a wash and a brush up
before the daylight faded completely.
The camp had no electricity apart from limited
essentials (camera charging and beer cooling) so the main
light source was candle and paraffin lamp, it takes a bit of
getting use to but not really that big a deal. Mosquitos
were ever present at night therefore the fly screens were
zipped down to give some protection but this prevented what
little airflow there was, the nights were hot and humid not
that good for sleeping.
It was good to have a driver (Omari) and guide
(Calsan) who were both capable guys both trying
their upmost to find game that was scarce and hard
to find.
One noticeable thing about Selous is how timid the game
was to vehicles and humans, on many occasions the
game would move off before we got near, which does
not make for good photography. The reason for the
animal nervousness was the fact that hunting is
still active south of the Rufiji river in Selous and
therefore the game will expect all humans to be the
same, they do not know the difference between a
camera and a rifle.
There are two things I will take away from Lake
Manze Camp and remember for a long time, one was a
birthday cake that was presented to me one evening
and the other was the Wild Dog sighting on the last
day, it was the first time we had seen these animals
in all our times to Africa, both were something
extra special.
Thank you Lake Manze.
Like all good things they come to an end but we were
moving on to another location so it wasn’t quite so
bad. After a breakfast in camp we departed back
towards the Selous Safari Camp air strip with some
game viewing on route, on the way we saw the lion
pride that had been eluding us whilst at Lake Manze.
We arrived in time to catch the 90 min light
aircraft flight to Ruaha National Park, this flight
we had the privilege of a VIP plane, not sure why,
but quite acceptable. The flight was uneventful but
it was interesting, seeing the green landscape as it
changed with the terrain along route and as we
transversed the mountains the sky cleared completely
revealing all below.