This article is extracted from a Blog by Vicky Unwin (Vickygoestravelling) written in October 2024, after her 10th visit to Stretch Ferriera Safaris' Goliath Camp in Mana Pools! You can read the original, full blog HERE.
I’ve now been to Stretch Ferriera's Goliath Camp ten times, and the blogs get repetitive! So I’m breaking this blog down into Stretch-style ‘moments’, mirroring our Mana experiences in 2024...
Elephant moments
Hilary is given the full treatment, up close and personal with JD. He’s the one who had me up against an anthill on my first visit, almost skewered by his tusks! Stretch says he’s mellowed but…
We have several near misses with elephants (and the resident eland bull, Eduardo) wandering through the camp and disporting beneath the deck. On our last day we manage to track Boswell, the elephant who browses from his hind legs.
Walking/tracking
These are always the best moments. I prefer the walks for walking’s sake – we have a lovely early morning amble from camp to Long Pool, enjoying the cool air, the sunrise and the sound of the bush waking up.
But there’s tracking to be done – Stretch and Alistair aka ‘the old muppets’ – are like bloodhounds, with noses out, as we bump along the roads. Lion and dog tracks to be followed up – out of the vehicles, into the bush, ‘just 300m’ turns into a good hour. Often a smoke break is mandated while they disappear off to check tracks...
The dogs are an obsession and we are rewarded with two lots of sightings, though one was not down to tracking as they were by the side of the road – ‘cheap dogs’. But even if you don’t find the target, the thrill of the chase is enervating.
Seeing Stretch and Al (the two old muppets) working in wordless harmony together is like watching ballet dancers, albeit with different moves. It has a magic of its own. What a team!
Cats
No visit to Mana is compete without lions, one of Stretch’s obsessions. We are lucky to find a large pride on our first day; and to track three females to kills on two occasions – one a baby zebra, which they tear apart as we watch from a ledge just above them; the other an old warthog grandpa, when we are privileged to see the stalking right in front of us, though the fatal blow is dealt just out of sight. But the time we reach the river bank the girls are tucking in! John, who identifies as a warthog, is sad and later buys a metal one to take home.
The utter high point is a late night encounter as we rush to get back to camp. A wild cat! Long of leg, and striped just like Pickle, she flashes across the road in front of us and then casually, catlike, shows off in the gloaming, well enough for Ross to get a really good shot. She’s only been seen a couple of times recently, always in the same spot. Alistair thinks she’s a serval cross, something that has only been seen in captivity. Others are not so sure…but what a coup! I’m calling her she in line with Stretch’s proclaimed gender fluid identity. His nod to the current state of the world.
Birding
...Stretch knows we are quasi-twitchers and takes us to the endangered skimmers, and we watch in awe as they glide over the water at Long Pool a couple and, later, he leads us to a tree full of carmines (obviously en route to see something else, i.e. Boswell).
Interestingly there is a dearth in the usual suspects in Mana – no snake eagles apart from bataleurs in abundance, and many other water and land birds seem to be missing. Is it climate change? Drought? Or simply our ineptitude! Richard surpasses himself by spotting a king penguin on Long Pool; we disabuse him of this remarkable find by telling him it’s a Goliath heron! Despite wishful thinking, we manage to clock up over 80 species including the crested Guinea fowl on the way the the airport, normally elusive, but here in large numbers.
Tea-rooms and Sundowners
Always magical Mana moments here. ‘Can you smell that? It’s the smell of coffee…’ and ‘Can you hear the tinkle of ice?’ are welcome observations from our guide.
Comedy
Stretch is a comedian. He and Al make a good double act, the Laurel and Hardy of the bush. Al the dead-pan Stan Laurel to Stretch’s Hardy.
OK – we’ve heard some of the gags before, but they always make me smile and invite banter in return. The funniest moment this time is when Stretch decides to show off his land-rover skills – ‘Rick, watch this, I’m going to show you how a land-rover is better than a land cruiser’. He revs up and goes hell for leather up a vertical sandy bank…sadly he just can’t make it, and there’s a ghastly grating sound as something goes…we roll backwards, hanging on for dear life and come to a grinding halt, stuck in the sand. Later we limp into tea break, and the new fan belt is in ribbons. As he looks up from under the bonnet he is desperate not to be seen by the other guides, all Toyota drivers!
Editorial Note: Drought
During Vicky's trip in October 2024, she reported that the Zambezi River was a small trickle outside the camp, and water was being pumped and dug out from channels further in. Stretch was clearly distressed although he said that good rains were predicted for the end of October. Here's Vicky's image from the camp in Sept 2024.
Fortunately Stretch was proved correct. Good rains fell in Mana Pools in the 2024-2025 period. This brings hope for the safari season to come. The image below was taken by Stretch from camp in March 2025.
