Day 1 - Makgadikgadi Salt Pans, Botswana

 

 

From Maun you fly to San Camp – surely one of the most romantic camps in Africa…  where you will be greeted by your guide and settled into your room. Completely rebuilt in 2011, San Camp offers a serene atmosphere and beautiful views of the endless Makgadikgadi Saltpans, and for Guests that would prefer to spend a little less time exploring and little more time lounging, San Camp is perfectly adapted, the camp’s hub is a romantic white canvas pavilion, with a fluttering valance beneath its eaves. Six classically styled white guest tents with en suite bathrooms, Persian carpets underfoot, cool cotton sheets and mahogany and brass campaign-style kit from the family safari stores form a striking contrast with the rugged wilderness viewed from the comfort of one’s own verandah

San Camp (BLD)

 

 

Day 2 & 3 - Makgadikgadi Salt Pans, Botswana

 

Set off in the morning to visit some of the Kalahari’s most fascinating inhabitants, the meerkats. Due to an ongoing habituation programme, it’s possible for Guests to get up close and personal with these captivating creatures. You also get the chance to see the Kalahari Desert through the eyes of a meerkat – which, despite the fact that it’s only a foot off the ground, is a pretty spectacular vantage point, and definitely one of the most special and memorable game experiences you will encounter in Botswana.

 

Visit a remote cattle post to learn about the traditional culture of the Batswana people.  Close by is the famous Chapman’s Baobab which is acknowledged to be the third largest tree in Africa, and was the campsite of early explorers like Livingstone and Selous when they pioneered the area.

 

After tea, travel down to the pans where you will be given a brief safety talk before mounting your trusty quad bike, and head off across the pans. Watch the sun set and the stars rise. This is one of the only places in the world where the silence is so complete you can hear the blood circulating through your ears. There is not one visual landmark to be seen across 16,000 square kilometres of baking soda and one swiftly loses one’s sense of perspective.

 

Enjoy a night game drive back to camp. Look for nocturnal desert inhabitants and perhaps even a black maned Kalahari Lion. Return to San Camp for dinner.

San Camp (BLD)

 

Day 4 - Selinda Camp, Northern Botswana

 

Perhaps take a short walk with a small group of Zu/’hoasi Bushmen, a window into the past, the Bushmen teach us how they have survived in this harshest of environments, using ancient knowledge of plants, animal behaviour and survival skills.

Bid farewell to San Camp in preparation for your flight from to Selinda.

Selinda Camp (BLD)

 

 

Day 5 & 6 - Selinda Camp, Northern Botswana

 

Designed with the elements in mind, Selinda Camp pays homage first and foremost to water, with splashes of blue and a crystal-clear swimming pool offering views over the equally immaculate Selinda Spillway. The billowing silks, which adorn the ceilings of the lounge area, are a tribute to air, and the afternoon breezes that ripple the endless sea of grasses. Earth is represented in the cornucopia of home-grown meals lovingly prepared in our kitchens and the bright flames of our evening fire complete the ethos of being in harmony with nature. Extensive raised decks give a sense of being part of forever as you gaze out over seemingly endless floodplains where wildlife abounds. But it wasn’t always this way. When Great Plains Conservation took over the Selinda Reserve in 2006 it was to rescue it – the concession and its wildlife had been hunted down to virtually nothing. Now it’s one of the finest wildlife areas in Botswana, if not Africa, and provides a base from which researchers are taking important strides in the effort to conserve and protect iconic species like elephants and Africa’s big cats.

Selinda Camp (BLD)

 

 

Day 7 - Departure

 

Following breakfast your tour ends with your flight back to Maun where you coninue your onwards arrangements.