The most notorious campsite in the world?
If you were to rank all the campsites in the world by the likelihood of getting eaten by a lion whilst camping, then Chitake Springs sits right at the very top of the list. Or should that be the bottom?
It is no joke, that is something that very much happens here.
Chitake Spring is located in the world famous Mana Pools National Park in Zimbabwe. A few nights here is one of the most intense wildlife viewing experiences money can buy.
At $300 per night the experience isn’t cheap, but we raided our savings and reserved a campsite for one night. As a premium, “exclusive” campsite you might expect some facilities, but the reality is there is absolutely nothing there except for a pit behind a screen.
What you do get is a slice of the wilderness, far far away from civilisation. Here it’s just you and the wildlife.
Buffalo
Chitake spring is a small water source in a dry riverbed. During the dry months it’s the only natural source of water for 40km in any direct. Therefore it is a magnet for all wildlife.
Large herds of buffalo remain nearby and frequently come down to the water to drink. Almost every day you will be able to wait until a herd arrives.
The water source itself is in a steep-sided and narrow river bed. Large animals struggle somewhat on the steep and sandy banks. There are few entry and exit points, so herds will file down to the water cautiously. There’s significant danger attached to approaching the water, there’s every chance a herd of herbivores is walking right into an ambush. Scrambling back out of the ravine will be a challenge for even the most fleet footed of animals.
Of course buffalo are a lion’s favourite snack. This brings us to the more famous residents of Chitake Spring.
Lions
A 21 strong pride of lions call Chitake Spring their home. Who can blame them, for hunting buffalo in the confines of the river valley is child’s play. You can be certain that wherever the buffalo are the lions will be close behind.
The Chitake lions are gangsters. They are at the top of the pyramid and they know it. Elsewhere humans might rule the roost, but at Chitake lions are number one, and they aren’t going to give up their crown.
Camping
So where better to camp than right in the middle of all the action on the bank of the riverbed?
There are three campsites here, and by campsite we really mean sandy clearing on the riverbank. We were lucky enough to secure Chitake 1, which occupies a stunning spot next to the sandy riverbed, and has to date avoided any lion-related fatalities. The site is roughly a kilometre downstream from the waterhole, which is just around the corner and out of view.
Activities
Of course wildlife viewing is the number one thing to do here. In fact it’s pretty much the only thing you can do.
Now despite all that I’ve mentioned above, game driving is very much not possible at Chitake. There is a single road in and out, and game drives are thoroughly discouraged.
That’s right, Chitake Springs is a walking destination.
Once more – walking safaris here are encouraged. A scout and a guide are certainly recommended to keep you out of any potential trouble.
Our visit
We arrived at our campsite in the late afternoon. We had Maricus and Gella in tow. A South African couple who we’d met at the Chriundu border who were heading to Mana Pools without a booking. We offered to share our campsite with them, and they were game.
Truth be told we were grateful to have a couple more pairs of eyes at the campsite. Camping amongst the lions becomes a little more serious when it’s just the two of you.
As the sun began to sink below the horizion and the sky turned into a myriad of colours, all was peaceful. I couldn’t think of a more relaxing place to sit and enjoy a nice cold beer. The scene was simply stunning.
We started up a fire and began preparing dinner. Up until now we had been relatively happy with our inventive and tasty cooking on an open fire. I was certainly very proud of some of the food we had cooked, various types of grilled meat and vegetables, charred briefly by the flames, to my mind was a great meal.
It was clear that with South Africans in tow we would very quickly have to up our braai game.
Maricus took the lead on the fire, thankfully. He diligently pulled the hottest embers out of the heart of the fire, and smashed them into a neat glowing rectangle in the sand.
Gella had prepared us some Braaibroodjies (brai-broy-kees) which were toasties cooked on the fire. Of course the meal was incomplete without an accompaniment of boerewors and Mrs. Balls.
Beer was swiftly replaced with the South African’s whisky. A shrewd choice given the perilous character of a midnight call of nature.
It was then that the night started to come alive.
Nighttime
It’s hard to overstate how different the atmosphere is out in the bush after dark. Chitake Springs was certainly the wildest place we’d been. When it’s quiet the tension is unbearable, the odd rustle of leaves stands your hairs on end.
Nervous trumpeting of elephants in the distance broke the silence. After that the coordination calls of the lions filled the rest of the night. Sometimes the lions would be close, other times further away. Whatever was happening the springs were a hive of activity. All around the valley the lions would be talking to one another, the extended yawn-like roars followed by the characteristic uncomfortable murmuring were the soundtrack to our dinner.
On occasion elephants came quite close to our campsite, their highway appeared to cross the sandy riverbed right in front of our campsite. So we watched on as they made their way over the hill on the other side of the riverbed and headed towards the waterhole.
We set up the night vision camera to record the nighttime goings on and retired to bed early.
Three hyenas (shouldn’t that be hyaenae?) had visited us at night, sniffing around the remains of our braai.
Unfortunately we had no luck with lions in our camp. Despite them being noisy all night. Many times it sounded like they were very close. After breakfast we packed up and headed to the spring to watch some wildlife.
Idoo
We met Idoo, a Dutchman who runs professional football academies in the Netherlands for a living. Idoo has nerves of steel. He spent last night at Chitake campsite #2. His campsite were where the lions were.
Idoo was travelling alone, and would sit and watch the wildlife from his camp chair. Last night he saw a lioness walk within 15m of his camp chair and only at that point he decided it was time to retire for the night.
You see, the problem isn’t the lion you can see in front of you. It’s their twenty friends lurking in the bushes. Idoo, impervious to nerves, camped for three nights alone up at Chitake 2. I cannot stress how absolutely bonkers this is. However he is a lovely man and we enjoyed his company during our stay in Mana Pools.
Waterhole
After cautiously checking for signs of lions at the Chitake Springs viewpoint, we set up our camp chairs under a nice big tree high up on the riverbank overlooking the waterhole. The pride were nowhere to be seen.
According to Idoo, the buffalo had visited the springs yesterday evening. Therefore they were unlikely to return until later in the afternoon. Aside from a few impala and a troop of baboons, the springs were quiet.
We played the waiting game.
By three o’clock it was time to leave, we still had over an hour of driving to reach Nyamepi, our campsite for the evening. We couldn’t risk getting there after dark, especially as we would need to check-in and night driving is prohibited.
It was with a heavy heart that we tore ourselves away from Chitake Springs. Despite all the noise in the night, we had failed to spot a single lion.
We will certainly visit again, whilst $300 is an extremely expensive campsite, it’s an experience you can’t get anywhere else. So if anyone wants to share the cost next time…?
Small Holiday Big Dream 
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