Best hotels in Mana Pools

While most visitors to Mana Pools head for the famous Zambezi floodplains, those in the know make a beeline inland to the Chitake River system – and it's here you'll find this raw, unfiltered gem. Perched on a bluff 50 metres above the dry riverbed, Mhara occupies a private concession that was untouched for centuries before the camp opened in 2022. The wildlife action is nothing short of extraordinary: lion prides patrol the sands below, enormous buffalo herds kick up dust clouds as they thunder to the springs, and elephants dig for water mere metres from your tent. It's walking safari country at its finest, with the legendary Chitake Gorge on your doorstep and guides who grew up in this wilderness. Come here for proper bush immersion – the kind that leaves fresh lion tracks outside your tent each morning.