Since the previous reviewers described their thorough yet expensive visits to the park, I will focus on practicalities how to get in and around on a budget as a family trip (2 adults, 2 children). Visit in early May 2024.

The area around the national park is probably the least visited part of Zimbabwe - there is no large city nearby, even the main Harare-Lusaka road is in terrible condition. It's hard to find any place to sleep. I used Makuti Travel Lodge, which is closest to the park. Its owner, Davie (whatsapp +263779450211), prepared a room for us even though his lodge is officially closed for renovation (it should open in September or October 2024, and certainly in 2025). We paid USD 40 for an adult, USD 20 for a child - total USD 120. If someone doesn't want to sleep in Makuti, you can try to find a place to sleep in Karoi (the last larger town in Zimbabwe) or in Zambia (preferably in Chirundu). From Karoi to the park gate it is about 100 km, from Chirundu 40 km plus crossing the border. The last gas station is in Makuti, right next to the Makuti Travel Lodge - it's worth making sure you have a full tank for a trip to the park.

To visit Mana Pools on your own, go to the Northern Zimbabwe national parks headquarters in Marangora (about 15 minutes from Makuti). They open at 7 a.m., so if you start at 5 a.m. you can get there even from Karoi. In Marangora you shall obtain a free permit and can go to Chimutsi Gate, a few minutes away from Marangora. There we show the permit and drive for about 30-40 minutes to the next gate, Nyakasikana. From there, it's another 60 kilometers or so to the park's headquarters in Mana Riverside, the distance which can be covered in 1.5-2 hours. I will add that the entire road to Mana Riverside is very good and can easily be driven in a regular car.

At Mana Riverside, you must register and pay the park fee (daily fee is USD 20 for adults, USD 10 for children and USD 10 for cars) – without the registration you won’t exit the park. Then you can drive wherever you want and wherever the condition of the car allows (I heartily advise you, without a 4x4 it's not worth going further than Mana Mouth). We initially went east and it paid off - I met a beautiful leopard for the first time in my life. Leopards are a rare sight at Mana Pools, so we were incredibly lucky. In addition, there is plenty of various animals, especially elephants, antelopes and hippos. April/May is a bad time to see a painted dog - the rangers indicated that the best time is August or September.

We drove around the park for a good 5 hours and we would have only had great memories there if it weren't for the situation that happened just 1 km from the main road. We buried ourselves in the sand so much that we were unable to get out on our own. Help called by other tourists arrived only after more than 3 hours. Luckily enough to leave the park before dark.

To sum up, Mana Pools will be remembered by us as one of the greatest national parks we have seen. It can be seen on a budget - we paid only USD 70 + fuel for a daily visit.