Lower Zambezi or Mana Pools?
The two parks side by side on what you will see, what you can do, what it costs, how you get there and the health picture, with the facts behind every rating.
Our verdict
It is the same river and largely the same animals; what differs is how each bank lets you meet them. Pick Mana Pools to walk among big game and run the trip yourself: unguided walking on a permit, ranger walks at $12 per person per hour, and riverbank camping at Nyamepi from $120 a night for up to six. Entry is a flat $24, and eland is a speciality. Pick Lower Zambezi for a canoe-and-lodge trip, tiger fishing with motorboats allowed, and the night shift: night drives are legal through a camp, and leopard turns up on 88 per cent of trips against 34 at Mana. It is a 35-minute flight from Lusaka, but camps inside the park add levies of $85 to $120 per person per night. Both banks carry tsetse. The usual crossing is a boat from Mana up to Chirundu, then the one-stop border post.
Best for big game Lower ZambeziBest for birding Mana PoolsBest for walking Mana PoolsBest for on the water Lower ZambeziBest for self-drive Mana PoolsBest for families Lower ZambeziBest for a first safari Lower ZambeziBest for wilderness Mana Pools
Tap a row label to see the reasoning behind a rating.
| Compare | Lower Zambezi4,092 km² | Mana Pools2,196 km² |
|---|---|---|
| 4September and October | 4Aug to Oct | |
4September and OctoberElephant sightings: 100% of trips; Lion sightings: 96% of trips; Leopard sightings: 88% of trips | 4Aug to OctElephant sightings: 100% of visitors; Wild dog sightings: 58%; Hippo & crocodile: Largest in Zimbabwe | |
| Elephant | Guaranteed | Guaranteed |
| Lion | Likely | Likely |
| Leopard | Likely | Fair chance |
| Buffalo | Likely | Likely |
| Wild dog | Fair chance | Fair chance |
| Cheetah | Absent | Rare |
| Hippo | Guaranteed | Guaranteed |
| Giraffe | Absent | Absent |
2378 speciesAbout 378 bird species listed on the wildlife page. | 3best380 speciesAbout 380 bird species listed on the wildlife page. | |
| 5Water | 5Water | |
4Walking is permitted with a guide and an armed scout, the Tusk & Mane fly-camps specialise in it and reach the escarpment foot, and under-12s are normally excluded. | 5bestOne of a tiny handful of parks where the public may walk unaccompanied, on a permit and on the open floodplain; a ZimParks ranger walks with you at $12 per person per hour, and under-16s may not walk. | |
5bestNight drives are permitted and widely offered inside the park and the game management area through licensed operators until 20:00, and leopard is seen on 88 per cent of trips. | 2Night driving and spotlighting are prohibited and a curfew keeps you in camp from 18:00 or 18:30; only Kavinga and the Ruckomechi concession on private land at the edges run night drives. | |
5Canoeing is the signature, from a couple of hours to multi-day trails at a $20 park fee, every river camp runs boat cruises, and tigerfishing is catch-and-release. | 5Canoe safaris on the Zambezi are the signature, from half days to multi-day trails, alongside tigerfishing from bank or canoe on a $15 licence; motorboats are not allowed in the park. | |
2Self-driving is permitted on a $30 tariff, but the road is ±216 km and at least 5 h with the last hours on a rough Chiawa GMA track, a 4x4 is required and no bookable campsite inside the park could be traced. | 4bestSelf-drivers are welcome on the designated roads: 384 km and 6 to 7 h from Harare with a Marongora check-in and 74 km of gravel, a high-clearance 4x4 required and the park closed in practice Dec to Mar. | |
| $200cheapest bed | $120cheapest bed | |
$30International adult per day ({'name': 'DNPW park fee schedule, published via the Zambia Tourism Agency', 'url': 'https://www.zambiatourism.com/park-entry-fees/'}, 2026-07-27). | $24bestInternational adult per day ({'name': 'Official ZimParks tariff, published February 2026', 'url': 'https://www.zimparks.org.zw/media/2026/02/De-Gazetted-Tariff-2026.pdf'}, 2026-07-26). | |
$200Lowest listed rate per person per night across 27 places; 5 are budget tier. | $120bestLowest listed rate per person per night across 21 places; 6 are budget tier. | |
$900Median of 16 priced places; top end $1,995. | $235bestMedian of 9 priced places; top end $1,140. | |
1Cheapest listed bed $200, 5 of 27 places in the budget tier, park fee $30 a day. | 2bestCheapest listed bed $120, 6 of 21 places in the budget tier, park fee $24 a day. | |
| $3,550mid-range | $915mid-range | |
$420bestBudget one: the GMA campsite base, the budget trip that actually exists | $810Budget one: self-drive camping at Nyamepi | |
$3,550Budget two: mid-range, a tented chalet at Mvuu | $915bestBudget two: a ZimParks lodge, Hippo, Nyati or Muvee | |
$10,060Budget three: fly-in to Anabezi, inside the park | $6,240bestBudget three: fly-in to Wilderness Ruckomechi | |
| Lusaka: ±35 min by air to Jekinearest airport | Harare, 384 km, 6 to 7 h by roadnearest airport | |
Lusaka: ±35 min by air to Jeki, or ±5 h by roadFrom the getting-there and flights pages. | Harare, 384 km, 6 to 7 h by road; ±1 h 35 by light aircraftFrom the getting-there and flights pages. | |
Required inside the parkFrom the getting-there page. | High-clearance 4x4 requiredFrom the getting-there page. | |
| September and Octoberpeak game viewing | Aug to Octpeak game viewing | |
September and OctoberFrom the best-time page. | Aug to OctFrom the best-time page. | |
Camps ±April to mid-Nov; flights 1 May to 15 NovFrom the best-time page. | Effectively closed Dec to MarchFrom the best-time page. | |
| High year-roundmalaria | High all year in the Zambezi Vall…malaria | |
High year-round, whole country (NaTHNaC)From the health page. | High all year in the Zambezi ValleyFrom the health page. | |
PresentPart of a Zambezi valley day, especially in thick bush away from the river; a comfort problem, mostly. | PresentZimbabwe's surviving tsetse belts sit in the Zambezi Valley; worst in the mopane and jesse bush between escarpment and river. | |
October, 34.8°C mean daily maxMean daily maximum of the hottest month, from the health page. | October, 36.9°C mean daily maxMean daily maximum of the hottest month, from the health page. | |
Mtendere Mission Hospital, Chirundu; real hospitals in LusakaAir evacuation: SES road and air ambulance, Lusaka based. | Kariba, Karoi, Chinhoyi (stabilisation only); serious cases by air to HarareAir evacuation: MARS (Kariba base) or ACE (Chirundu, Chinhoyi) to Harare. | |
| 4First safari | 4Wilderness | |
3bestLolebezi and Chongwe Camp take all ages and Royal Zambezi has a kids' corner, but malaria is high all year, the camps are unfenced and children under 12 are normally kept off canoe and walking safaris. | 2Every camp is unfenced, malaria risk is high all year in the Zambezi Valley, tsetse is present and under-16s cannot walk; Nyamatusi Mahogany is the family exception with a kids' programme. | |
4bestElephant on 100 per cent of trips, lion on 96 and leopard on 88, and Proflight reaches Jeki in about 35 min from Lusaka, though only from 1 May to 15 Nov. | 3Elephant is seen by 100 per cent of visitors and lion by 89, but access is a 6 to 7 h drive or a charter and night drives are banned. | |
3Most of the 4,092 km² is escarpment with no drivable tourist network, so game drives work a narrow valley-floor strip and the interior is reached only by walking and fly-camp operators. | 4bestUnfenced camps, a five-vehicle cap at sightings and no facilities at all at Chitake Springs, though most visitors share the 15 by 3 km floodplain and September books out up to a year ahead. |
Compare all of Zambia's parks on the comparison page. Mana Pools has its own guide at visitmanapools.com.
How the ratings work
- Big game is calculated from each park's sightings table on its wildlife page: guaranteed counts 3, likely 2, a fair chance 1, rare 0.5 and absent 0, across elephant, lion, leopard, buffalo, wild dog, cheetah, hippo and giraffe, scaled so that 16 points is 5 out of 5.
- Birding follows the species count on the wildlife page. Low-budget safari follows the cheapest listed bed, the share of budget places and the daily park fee.
- Walking, night drives, water, self-drive, families, first safari and wilderness are our ratings, whole numbers from 1 to 5. Press "Why?" on any row to read the facts each one rests on, with the page they come from. Where a rule is not published we say so rather than guess.
- Prices are per person per night in US dollars as listed on the lodges pages, before park fees; the three-night totals come from each park's costs page and use the dated rates there. Fees are the international adult rate per day.