- Site Name
- Mana Pools National Park
- UNESCO reference number
- 302
- Property Area
- 6,766 km²
- Universal Value
- Mana Pools National Park, together with the Sapi and Chewore Safari Areas, is recognized by UNESCO for its outstanding natural beauty and ecological significance along the lower Zambezi, where seasonal floodplains create a vast network of lakes, islands, and sandbanks that attract exceptional concentrations of wildlife. Inscribed under criteria (vii), (ix), and (x), it represents superlative natural phenomena and scenic landscapes, exemplifies key ecological processes in a large, largely intact river-floodplain system, and provides critical habitat for diverse species including elephants, buffalo, leopards, cheetahs, wild dogs, large numbers of hippos and crocodiles, and over 350–400 bird species
- Geography & Setting
- Mana Pools National Park lies in northern Zimbabwe along the lower Zambezi River, directly opposite Zambia’s Lower Zambezi National Park, forming part of a vast, largely unfenced transboundary wilderness. The park covers about 2,196 km² of flat alluvial floodplain, where seasonal rains transform ancient river channels into a network of lakes, islands, and sandbanks, while four permanent pools (including the 6 km–long Long Pool) remain as dry-season water sources. South of the valley floor, the landscape rises to dramatic escarpments, and the floodplain is fringed by riverine forests of mahogany, wild fig, ebony, and iconic baobabs, with mopane and thick bush further inland, creating one of Southern Africa’s least developed and most pristine safari settings.
- History & Story
- The area now known as Mana Pools has been inhabited and traversed by humans and wildlife for centuries, with elephant populations heavily hunted in the 19th century before recovering as the region was protected. In the 20th century, the land was first designated a non-hunting reserve, then gazetted as a game reserve in 1963 and upgraded to a national park in 1975, a process that led to the relocation of local communities but secured the floodplain for wildlife. The park narrowly escaped submersion under a proposed hydro-electric scheme in the early 1980s, and in 1984 it was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site (together with Sapi and Chewore Safari Areas), at which time it still held one of Africa’s largest eastern black rhino populations before severe poaching in the 1980s–90s reduced numbers and led to the remaining rhinos being moved for protection
- Legal protection & management
- Mana Pools National Park is administered and managed by the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZimParks), a parastatal body responsible for wildlife conservation, tourism, and protected area management in Zimbabwe. The park operates under a General Management Plan (most recently updated for 2023–2033) that sets out objectives for habitat protection, species monitoring, research, and addressing land-use pressures in surrounding areas. In 2023, Zimbabwe and Zambia signed a Memorandum of Understanding to establish the Lower Zambezi–Mana Pools Transfrontier Conservation Area (LOZAMAP TFCA), strengthening cross-border coordination for the wider UNESCO World Heritage landscape.
- Visitor experience
- Mana Pools offers one of Africa’s most immersive and “raw” safari experiences, famous for allowing self-guided walking among big game and for its classic canoe safaris on the Zambezi. Visitors explore the floodplain and river channels on foot or by canoe, tracking elephants, buffalo, lions, leopards, and wild dogs, often at remarkably close range, while multi-day walking and canoe trails with fly-camping under the stars deepen the wilderness feel. The park is effectively closed in the rainy season (November–March), with peak wildlife viewing and iconic “standing elephants” sightings from August to October, when dry conditions concentrate animals along the river and in the four permanent pools
