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| DAY 1
- MAUN / MAKGADIKGADI PANS – NORTHERN KALAHARI
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Upon arrival in Maun you will be met and assisted on to your flight by light aircraft to San Camp. This dramatic camp is situated in a private concession on the edge of the great Makgadikgadi Pans set on the northern edge of the Kalahari Desert. The saltpans are among the largest in the world, part of a fossilized super-lake that thrived in ancient times. With it’s harsh, lunar-like environment, life still abounds, and brown hyena, oryx and springbok are just a few of the desert-adapted species that can be seen.
You’ll experience the phenomenal geology and the wide-open spaces of this ancient lakebed as you explore the Makgakikgadi Pans on game drives, on quad bikes and on cultural walks with the San bushmen. And you will have a unique and delightful opportunity to participate in up-close encounters with suricates (meerkats), one of the most fascinating and endearing animals in the world.
San Camp has just six roomy and stylish canvas guests tents with en-suite bathrooms, featuring bucket showers and flush toilets. The camp has been fashioned in classical 1940’s style creating an oasis of civilization in what can be the harshest of stark environments ...Grass matting underfoot, cool cotton sheets, mahogany and brass form a striking contrast with the rugged wilderness viewed from the comfort of one’s own verandah.
San Camp's hub is a white canvas pavilion, with a fluttering valance beneath its eaves and could be the site for a medieval jousting tourney. Two poles support the main chamber where everyone meets for meals at a long communal dining table. Interesting collections of bones, pottery, stone tools and beadwork crowd antique display cases – the spoils of many family safaris through the area.
Enjoy a light, but delicious lunch and rest up in your tent through the early afternoon. After tea, drive into the grasslands and the beautiful evening light. Stop to watch the sun set and listen to an explanation of how the Makgadikgadi pans, the remnants of the world’s largest ever superlake, were formed. Return to San Camp for a lavish dinner in the elegant mess tent.
Overnight
- San Camp (L, D & activities) |
| DAY 2
- MEERKATS & MORE
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Set off early in the morning to visit some of the Kalahari’s meerkats. (‘suricate’ to science-minded people and ‘Timon’ to Lion King fans). Get up close and personal with these captivating creatures. On chilly mornings, you might well find a meerkat snuggling up to you for warmth. Or, in the absence of a termite mound or tree, using your head as a sentry lookout post. By spending quality time with these incredibly social, superbly adapted animals, you will be able to see how they interact with each other and their environment.
You also get the chance to see the 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.
After a picnic breakfast, visit a remote cattle-post to learn about the traditional culture of the Botswana people. Close by is the famous Chapman’s Baobab (Also known as the Seven Sisters) which is acknowledged to be one of the largest trees in Africa, and was the campsite of early explorers like Livingstone and Selous when they pioneered the area. This gives you an opportunity to gain a fascinating insight into the history of the early explorers. Return to San Camp for a rest and refreshing lunch.
After tea, travel down to the pans where you will be given a brief safety talk before mounting your trusty quad bike. 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 and one swiftly loses one’s sense of perspective. These 9,900 sq. miles (16,000 sq. km.) of baking soda void are inhabited only by you and a few gazillion invisible brine shrimp!
Overnight
- San Camp (all meals & activities) |
| DAY 3
- FOSSILS & HYENAS
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Early in the morning, comb the edge of the extinct lake shore to find some of the many stone tools and fossils that litter the pan surface and learn of the origins of early man. Return to San Camp for a huge brunch.
After another decadent tea, head off to see one of Africa’s rarest carnivores – the brown hyena. Due to a PhD research program on this cleverly adapted desert species, the cubs are habituated and allow us to observe their social behavior without disturbance.
Overnight
- San Camp (all meals & activities) |
| DAY 4
- BUSHMEN ENCOUNTER / MAUN
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Spend the morning walking with Zu/’hoasi Bushmen trackers. Uncharted Africa has pioneered and passionately supported cultural tourism in Botswana since the company’s inception 13 years ago. It has long been our belief that it is a vitally important tool in terms of preserving this unique, but sadly fast-vanishing, culture. We have been working closely with the Zu’hoasi people of the Western Kalahari for many years and are privileged to have a small group of these extraordinary men to guide our guests on a morning’s walking safari. Offering a window into the
past, they teach us how they have survived in this harshest of environments, using their vast and ancient knowledge of plants, animal behavior and survival skills.
For those of you who would prefer to spend a little less time exploring and little more time lounging – San Camp is perfectly adapted… Time for one more delectable lunch, before you are driven to the airstrip to board your light aircraft flight back to Maun.
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ESCAPE TO THE VAST MAKGADIKGADI PANS IN THE NORTHERN KALAHARI DESERT, WHERE YOU WILL SPEND 3 NIGHTS AT THE EXOTIC SAN CAMP. SAN CAMP SITS SERENELY IN A REEF OF PALM - AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD WHERE YOU CAN SEE THE CURVATURE OF THE EARTH. A COMPLETE DESERT EXPERIENCE AWAITS YOU - FOCUSING ON ADVENTURES & SPECIES UNIQUE TO THIS SPELLBINDING AREA.
4
Days
from
US $ 2,500
