Zimbabwe - Tracking Dinosaurs & Lunar Wonders

 

The second country of my trip was Zimbabwe - a place which up until planning of this adventure hadn’t really grabbed my attention. That has definitely changed after spending two weeks in Harare, Mana Pools, Chewore, Kariba, Matusadona and the Victoria Falls. This journey was full of incredible experiences, read on to find out what the country once known as the "Jewel of Africa" had in store.

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Harare and some unique rocks

I had one day to spend in the capital city before making my way into the northern parts of the country. A brief tour and looking at one of its most unusual sights was all I could fit in.

The Capital

A sunrise view over Harare from the famous Meikles hotel, with the Cathedral of St Mary on the right and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe in the centre. It's the country's tallest tower at 120m, and these days undoubtedly a difficult place to be in given the rampant inflation.

Balancing

Speaking of money, here is one of Harare's most peculiar sights - the balancing rocks of Epworth, depicted on Zimbabwe's old 50 Dollar notes to symbolise the financial system's strength and reslience. Ironically, the note is worth nothing now.

Steady

The rocks are a natural geomorphological collections of magmatic rock, that look like they've been artificially assembled.

Mana Pools - Wildlife in a different way

I then spent 2 days at Mana Pools National Park in the northern part of the country, bordering the Zambezi river and the Zambian mountains on the other side of its shores. It’s this setting and the fact walking and canoeing are possible here, providing a much more intimate experience than the typical bush game drives, that made this a special place.

Elephants At Moonrise

Couldn't resist when I saw our lunar companion come up behind this mother and child pair.

Scenery

The green trees dotted around the Zambesi shores, coupled with open spaces, make for a pictoresque setting.

Hippos Galore

A group of Hippo enjoying the evening sun in the Zambesi.

Waterbuck

The Mana Pools National Park is incredibly beautiful, with views of the Zambesia and the Zambian mountains as a backdrop for Africa's iconic anmials.

Peek A Boo

This velvet monkey was a little shy when we approached.

A different view

One of the most amazing activities I've done is canoing on the Zambesi.

Eye Level

It's an incrdibly intimate way to come close to animals, without the noise and destructive nature of the typical Land Cruiser game drive.

Saddle Billed Stork

Passing this large bird, up to 150cm in length and around 250cm wingspan.

Presenting...

...The moon.

Close Up

When the river carries you, you can't really tell where you might end up.

What's Happening

A baboon observing his colleagues higher in the tree.

Chewore - Off the beaten, and onto the Dinosaur track

From Mana Pools, it was a good 4h drive on dusty and bumpy roads in a 1960s land cruiser owned by my wonderful host Louisa to a remote hunting concession - here. Hunting wasn’t the reason I kept annoying quite a few people before being able to come here: In fact, this place has some of the most remote and untouched dinosaur footprints in the world, which triggered my interest. Before that though, the universe had another special sight in store .

Zimbabwean Forests

A large baobab tree at sunset, with Zimbabwe's Chirambakadoma mountain and its flat top in the background.

The Lunar Eclipse

My time in Zimbabwe coincided with the a full lunar eclipse on 16th of May, 2022, and luckily our location was just about within the areas of the globe that could experience this rare phenomenon, so I had to find a way to capture it. What a sight it was - and not only that, also an audible experience, as the lions and baboons roared in the background.

Ying

We found a clearing with a good view of both the sun...

Yang

.. and the moon. It was going ot be our spot for the following night.

The Blood Moon

We ventured out at 3am deep into the bush to an elevated clearing to observe the slow progression of the eclipse, culminating just before sunrise. This was taken at 5:29am, with the sun still illuminating a small edge of the moon, while earth cast a shadow on the rest of our luna, glowing red due to the scattered light passing through the atmosphere.

Timeslice

Our earth's shadow started to show itself on the moon's surface from around 3am onwards, until before sunrise when it the totally eclipsed our celestial companion, making it shine truly red. Shortly after, daylight started to creep in as the sun rose on the opposite side, casting an array of colours onto the sky as the moon faded away.

Moments

I like it when everything comes together in an image. This is one such photo: The Milky Way and Scorpius star region, the African sunrise, the blood moon, and a meteor all in one frame - it was a lucky moment paired with prepardness that enabled me to capture this.

Here’s a timelapse video of the event, both a wider view from 3am to sunrise, and a close up of the eclipse progression.

The Dinosaur Footprints

The real reason for venturing this far and deep into the Zimbabwean bush can be found in the next photos. The country and specifically the Chewore area is home to a very special paleontological sight: Dinosaur Footprints from 150 million years ago. It took a large amount of research, planning and nagging to make this happen, but it was definitely worth it and I’m grateful to to everyone who made it possible and was a part of it with all their knowledge, Barry, Louisa and Neil. The owner of the concession estimates only 200 people have ever seen these - 201 now.

The Path

This is the first site of a total of 5 different spots we visited, although there are several more in the area. It's a path of prints running in the Ntumbe River, found in 1984. There are a total of 14 prints, but not all of them might be visible depending on water level, sand, and erosion damage.

Size

Here are 4 prints next to an iPhone 13 Pro for size comparison. The maker of this print is said to be Allosaurus, ancestor of the T-Rex, and about 12m tall, weighing 1400kg.

Allosaurus

The second site of prints from the same species, 12 prints over 15m.

Cleanup

Some work had to be done by my trusty guides with make shift brooms to free the prints from sand that was brought in by the river during the rains. There is a constant risk these prints might be destroyed by erosion, and whether to move and preserve them or let nature take its course is up for debate.

Size

These prints are slightly bigger than the first set - my footprint for comparison (Size 46 / US 11).

The Ntumbe River Bed

The various layers of sandstone are clearly visible here, with the different beds that make up the source of the prints.

The second culprits

Another species left truly mind-blowing evidence in the area: It's a number of Sauropod prints, almost 1 meter in diameter! My phone for comparison again.

I couldn't resist standing in the footprints of these giants - they were up to 15m tall. If you look closely, the bottom right print shows a crescent shape on top of the actual round foot - a sign of the front legs.

Skeleton

The evidence of a third species we were able to explore is different than the first two: It's a small Massospondylus dinosaur skeleton on its side, with folded joints. Its head is to the left of the image.

Lucky

It's located on top of a small sandstone outcrop in the Angwa River and thus preserved.

Riverscapes

The landscape around the prints is impressive as well. The water in this canyon is in fact more than 8 metres deep and home to a hippo and a crocodile.

Nursery

A spider of unknown (to me) species carrying its egg sac.

House in the Bush

One of the small houses of the camp we stayed at in Chewore.

Lake Kariba and the Matusadona

After a long drive, I arrived at Lake Kariba and the Warthogs camp for a few nights on the shores of the world’s largest man-made lake in Musango Safari Camp, both operated independently by incredible people.

Lake Kariba

The world's largest man-made lake by volume, at 223 x 40km and up to 97m deep.

On the Shores

The lake shores are home to many animals, but it's most notorious for its many large crocodiles, that not too rarely have an appetite for humans.

Kariba Dam

The reason for the lake is this dam, opened in 1959 before ZImibabwe (and Zambia on the other side) existed in their current form. The dam is 128m high and large repair works are taking place these days due to some instability. A flooding would be a disaster.

The Zambezi Snake Spirit

The river is said to be guarded by this creature, accordign to the native Tonga people that were displaced during the creation of the lake. The stories associated with it are worth a read.

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Following my time in Kariba at Warthogs Bush Camp (Elephants and Zebra visit the small pool there to drink!) I moved across the lake into the Matusadona National Park. An hour boat ride took me to a very unique lodge, called Musango, run by its owners Wendy & Steve.

A life's work

When they saw my recent Milky Way photos from Namibia they asked if I could do something for their lodge. No one deserves it more given the passion and knowledge they put into their little paradise, so this is what we came up with! We managed to include their dog as well, and if you look closely, there’s an elephant down by the water shores, and you can see some of the sunken trees in Lake Kariba.

The Sunken Forest

When I arrived at the lake, I saw a few strange sticks in the distance far from the shores. Once crossing the lake, I had the chance to explore them more closely. These petrified trees originally stood on the grounds of the area that has been flooded around 60 years ago, during the construction of Kariba dam. They now serve as a testimony to the impact this huge project had.

Hidden Treasures

The primary reason I chose Musango for my Lake Kariba stay was Steve's personal collection of incredible historic artifacts, ranging from Stone Age tools to prehistoric dinosaur remains, all exhibited in his little museum at the lodge.

Steve Edwards

And an item from his collection, a dinosaur tooth.

The Collection

Here we have an upper mandible from a 150 million year old Dinosaur, predecessor of our crocodile, and many of its teeth, as well as several other dinosaur bones and fossils.

Believe it?

This is said to be the only dinosaur egg ever found in Zimbabwe, now fossilised.

Human Artifacts

Tools from the Stone Age, such as hand axes from 500,000 years ago. You can find these in national museums, or come to Musango for a tour from the finder.

A night at the Falls

Before moving on to Botswana, I had a night at Victoria Falls, my second visit after having explored the Zambian side back in 2011. It is as fascinating now as it was then, and I’m glad to have seen both sides.

The Elephant Camp

I stayed at the Elephant Camp, a sanctuary for elephants for over 25 years, started during the time of the culling operations in Zimbabwe. An interesting place to get up close and personal with these gentle giants.

Views of the Falls

Put myself in the frame on the western edge of the Victoria falls, looking towards the Zambian side.

Livingstone

The monument for the so-called discoverer of the Victoria Falls, David Livingstone, a Scottish missionary who reported them in 1855. The city on the Zambian side is named after him, although it's slightly questionable why his name is associated with the falls more so than the many natives who have lived here for centuries and showed them to him...

Mosi-oa-Tunya

"The Smoke That Thunders" is the - vrery apt - local name in Sotho language.

World Heritage Site

The Victoria Falls are classified by Unesco, but there has been some debate over the last 15 years due to mismanagement of tourism development in the area.

A Sheet of Water

The falls are neither the tallest nor widest, but the combination of more than 1700 metres width and 108 metres height makes them the largest in the world.

Victoria Falls Bridge

The bridge over the first gorge was built in 1905. The 6 gorges to the east run in a zig zag pattern that represents the falls' previous locations, as they shifted to different positons over many thousands of years. The next and 9th shift will happen over the coming 10,000 years, cutting a new gorge into the basalt.

Wet

Depending on the wind, the path along the falls can get very very wet, as the cloud of water rains down again after emerging from the gorge.

That brings us to the end of my trip through Zimbabwe!