The Essence of the Journey!

Mana Pools – Zimbabwe – Marcelo

The roads to Mana are good, very good by Zimbabwe National Park standards.  Coming from Matusadona and Chizarira they are superb.  We had arrived at the gate on Saturday evening at 19h00 and greeted the lady at the gate with a loud and exuberant ‘HELLO, we’d like to camp at Mana Pools please’.  Being caught off guard, I’m not sure by the volume or the friendliness, the lady as polite as could be asked for our permit.  Not having one was clearly not going to float the boat.

“You need to get one from Marondera office” she said

“But it’s closed now” I guessed.

She must have thought I was a real toffee, but I found that it sometimes helped to state the obvious.  “Yes.  You will have to get one tomorrow morning at 07h00, when the office opens” was the reply.

This meant going up the Zambezi escarpment, where we had just come from, find a place to camp and try again tomorrow.  In essence this was the right decision.  It was still another 80km or so to Nyamepi camp, and I’m sure they would not allow driving at night.  So I thanked her and after chatting with two friendly, armed, anti-poaching guards at Marondera, we camped there the night.

The Zambezi Valley is a western extension of the Great Rift Valley, the huge geological fault that extends right down the continent of Africa.  The southern edge is formed by the Zimbabwean escarpment. The Zambian side, which you see as you descend,  marks the northern edge of the Valley.  Mana Pools was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984 and forms a Core Area of the Middle Zambezi Biosphere Reserve designated by UNESCO in 2011.

As you drive into the park, you notice how the changing mopane and dry “jesse” forests

give way suddenly to woodlands of acacia, mahogany and other large trees nearer the river.  This change in vegetation marks the southern edge of the old river terraces – the area over which the Zambezi has meandered and shifted its course over thousands of years.  The terraces are covered with fertile, alluvial soils deposited by the river during its meanderings.  The Pools of Mana, are ox-bow lakes which mark former courses of the Zambezi, which are refilled during the rains.

Nyamepi camp site is in an ideal setting despite it’s failing infrastructure.  Last night we heard 2 lion prides close by, hyaena, and had elephant in the camp site, hippos and beautiful, old, tall, trees.  The place feels good on the mighty Zambezi, overlooking the rolling hills of Zambia.  We listened hard for Pels, but heard him not.

There are herds of impala, water buck, zebra aplenty.  Baboons and vervets are also common, perhaps too much so.  Elephant too are familiar.  There is no electricity, hot water courtesy of wood-lit boiler but the sites are on picturesque river bank settings.  The road was recently graded and widened.  This may be due to some EU sponsorship, being a world heritage site?

We had an afternoon rain shower which lasted close to an hour, and Lisa and her family were returning from an activity where they had hired a canoe, paddled up stream before the heavens opened.  Lisa came across and greeted us, effervescent and full of fun, in spite of being wet and cold.  The boys were looking to play, and so we were invited for some hot chocolate. 

It was dusk by the time we returned.  Nicolai had played some soccer against their 9 year old and lost 5-4.  Our Danish friends run an organic chocolate making business in Cape Town, where they had lived the last three and a half years, and they were returning to Denmark, but not before they had a 7 week sojourntravelling around southern Africa.

Around 17h30 we returned to our campsite and it was when I went to hang up one of our, now clean pot covers on the washing line that I felt a scratch, a hard, deep scratch on my left ankle.  I thrust my leg up to rid myself of this annoying piece of bush scratching me.  Well, I was startled to see a snake, somersaulting backwards off my leg, revealing it’s pale white underbelly.  It must have been about 80cm long, thick but not ‘puffadder’ thick.  The wheels started turning.  I had been bitten by this snake.  I had stood on it, not noticing it in the 20cm high grass/weed growing around the washing line.  No fault of the snake, it must have got an equal surprise, turned and grabbed a hold of the offender, me.  What was the snake?  I immediately tried to search, find some clues, but he was gone.  Clearly the cooling effect of the rain had caused him to move slowly, perhaps not as alert as he would normally be, allowing me to put my size 11s on his body.  What do I do now?

Not knowing the snake was a problem.  How long did I have to live?  It did not seem to be one of those harmless thin house ‘snakey’ types.  I moved over to break the news to the family.  Cel broke down.  It had been a trying few days with some tough roads, and this was too much.  Nicolai immediately howled in unison and Danica was still.  I said not to worry as it did not look serious. 

The alarmed snake clearly made a good effort of biting me, to be hurled through the air when I shook my leg, he must have had a hold of some of my leg.  There were 4 clear puncture marks on my left ankle, however, fortunately my bone got in the way, and prevented the bite going too deep.  Maybe the suddenness of the leg flick helped too?

Celeste said that the reason we had taken out emergency medical evacuation was because of this.  Ok, well if I had to start that process, get out Sat phone, look for a number to dial, charter a flight, blah blah, I guessed best case, 12 hours from Mana Pools to some help.  If it were Mamba, Adder or one of the serious snakes, it would be game over anyway.  I took the reptile book and tried to have a look, identify what type of venom I was dealing with: neurotoxic, cytotoxic or haemotoxic? How much time did I have?  Unfortunately, the book did not have pictures of snakes twisting through mid air, revealing their under-belly in the shadows of fully grown Kigelia Africana in failing light.  I was back into unknown territory.

“Is it sore Dad?” Nicolai wanted to know.

“I’m fine my boy” I assured him not really knowing the truth.

I put up a brave face, but Celeste was not buying it.

“What are you feeling” she demanded.

“The bite is sore to the touch, sort of stinging.  Adrenalin is pumping, I do not know if it’s as a result of the snake bite, or just a normal reaction that my body is giving to shock” I told her.

This could be the end of the trip.  The end of me.  How did I feel about it?  A little surreal actually.  There was really very little I could do, if it was one of those hectically venomous snakes, this was it, game over.  Should I write a letter, maybe say things to Cel that I’ve always wanted to?  Mind you, I do often tell her I love her, and the kids.  There was really not much unfinished business.  However I did want to see them grow up, conquer the world, be by their side.  I had thought of a chat Nicolai and I had recently, about one of the Star War scenes where OB1Kanobi lets himself be slain by Darth Vader, and the question from Nicolai: why?  And so I had to try and explain the concept of immortality to a 7 year old.  Well perhaps I could take that approach, and influence their lives the way that OB1Kanobi did Luke’s?

So I tried to act normal.  I was preparing a chicken pot for supper, but Cel assured me she was exhausted and did not want any supper, and rather go straight to bed.  So I revised the plans and went for a simpler pasta dish.  She didn’t want me to open a beer and suggested that a Coke would have been better.  An hour and a half had passed, and my left leg was feeling pins and needlish like.  In fact it was a bit like a bee-sting, itchy, you know when it starts getting better and the skin feels tight and hot.  Hmmm, I asked her if we had brought any adrenalin with us?  This did not go down well.  She said no, but in more words.  We had 4 first aid kits, with lots of stuff, that importantly made her feel comfortable, but I did not really know what was in them.  I know from 1^st aid courses I had done that one is supposed to lie still, and think happy thoughts.  The days of tourniquets and sucking out venom have passed, but quite frankly I did not want to lie still and act like a pancake, especially if they were my last few moments on earth.  I figured that the adrenalin would help if I started getting lethargic, or my heart stopped or something – a la Pulp Fiction.

My calf got numb, and the lymph node in my left groin got really sore.  I had a few ‘crampy spasmy’ type sensations, but I woke up the next morning, with a smile on my face.  I was alive.  I thanked AA Raphael for the help.  It was 05h30, the Lions were calling, 2 prides, and the Ground Hornbills started calling time for some good strong coffee…