22 Years From 1993 to 2014

Annual Game Count

Transect team resting on banks of the Zambezi The Makonde Branch of Wildlife and Environment Zimbabwe organized annual game counts at Mana Pools National Park, Zimbabwe from 1993 to 2014.

Static counts at waterholes and transect counts across the flood plain took place over a weekend close to the full moon in September each year.

160 volunteer members of the society made up 37 teams who walked across the flood plain on north–south transect lines 500m apart. The aim was to count all the game within the 250m zone either side of each team.

Coverage of the 45km2 central Mana Pools flood plain was nearly total.

Transect Counts

Each team walked four different transects during the weekend and each transect was counted four times.

Teams navigated by compass or increasingly by GPS along their transects.

There was a choice of walking unaccompanied or with one of the National Parks Rangers or professional guides who joined the count each year.

Static Counts

The static counts took place over a 24hour period at the water points scattered throughout the national park including Chitake Spring.

2010 Count

The count was held on the weekend of 25th-26th September. After a good rainy season there is a lot of food at Mana and record numbers of elephants were seen taking advantage of the surplus.

2011 Count

The rains finished early so by 9-12 September the bush was very dry. On the transects elephant numbers were back to normal and the impala count was up.

2012 Count

The 20th Game Count was completed successfully on the weekend of 28 September to 1 October 2012. After a very poor rainy season (half the average) most inland pools were dry. Most of the species numbers were similar to previous years apart from an influx of bushbuck. Sable, which are very rare in this area, were also counted and photographed. There were numerous of sightings of lion and wild dog.

2013 Count

The 2013 count was completed without incident on the weekend 13 to 16 September 2013. There was more standing water around than the year before even though the rains had finished early again

2014 Count

The 2014 count was completed safely over the weekend of 5 to 8 September 2014. The was an abundance of albida pods and most of the small pans contained water. Animal numbers on the flood plain were generally slightly down on previous years

Briefing at Nyamepi Camp