Kalahari Exposed

Take game drives and night drives in custom built 4x4s to spot the unique desert wildlife that inhabit the pans, like the elusive brown hyena or Kalahari lion. Your experienced safari guide will help you discover a desert landscape, pulsating with life. Complete with bush picnics, morning coffees and chilled drinks.

Get up close and personal with our families of habituated meerkats. Head out from camp at sunrise, so that you are ready to tail these delightful omnivores as they set off in search of their breakfast. Walk amongst them (advised by your guide) and if you take a seat you might be lucky enough to be mistaken for a termite mound, where you'll be used as a look out point for predators.

Discover the secrets of the pans with the Zu/’hoasi Bushmen on a fascinating bush walk. See this ancient desert landscape through their eyes. These skilled hunter gatherers will show you how to survive, using their extraordinary tracking skills to uncover a smorgasbord of culinary delights... from bulbs, to scorpions, to berries. Spending time with them is a very rare privilege.

Saddle up to explore this wild, unspoilt area in the same way many of the earliest explorers, hunters

and missionaries did – on horseback! You’ll embark on an adventurous outride (for all level riders). This is an exhilarating way to spot wildlife, cantering along the crusty salt flats and following the animal

highways that bring life to the Makgadikgadi Pans.

This is pure desert adventure! Take an exhilarating quad bike across the salt-crusted pans (all pan activity is weather permitting and dependent on the dryness of the pans). You’ll feel total freedom as you trek across this vast and ancient landscape, discovering so much about the remnants of this once super lake.

Seasonal: April - October

Visit the site of the Fallen Baobab, one of the three largest and oldest trees in Africa and the camp site for Livingstone and Selous..

Witness the second largest migration in Africa. A stonking spectacle of black and white stripes

as approximately 30,000 zebra and wildebeest migrate across the Makgadikgadi Pans, followed closely by stalking predators, waiting for the rich pickings of tired hooves. This is a wildlife explosion and an experience not to be missed!

This really is an unforgettable experience. Enjoy a helicopter flight over the Makgadikgadi Pans, doors off (or on), to take in the vastness of this desert landscape. You’ll go in search of the zebra and flamingo migrations (if timed correctly), get dropped on an island of baobabs for lunch, do a bit of sunset sky surfing as you follow the palm tree linings and tell all your friends about it all when you get home.

If you are in need of some serious time out, then one of our spa treatments is your perfect escape. Our professional therapist will put you in seventh heaven. Book a back massage overlooking the Makgadikgadi Pans or enjoy a relaxing spa treatment from the privacy of your tent. Whichever you decide, you’ll walk away feeling refreshed and rejuvenated.

Grab a fat bike and peddle around the Makgadikgadi Pans. This is a really fun activity for the whole family, and an ideal way to get some exercise. These bikes can easily cruise over the desert terrain, taking you along 4x4 tracks and around the crusty salt flats. Keep a look out for sightings of wildlife, while breathing in the beautiful scenery, alongside the desert silence.

The Makgadikgadi Salt Pans are one of the most important breeding sites in southern Africa for

the lesser and greater flamingos. These flying flame birds, arrive in their millions during seasons of good rain, when millions of small shrimp and other crustaceans crack through the salty pan crust to spawn. The result, a pink extravaganza in the heat of the desert. You can also heli to Sua Pan to view the flamingos in Mar - Apr (scenic helicopter flight must be booked).

Game drives are undertaken in custom designed Toyota game viewing vehicles seating no more than six guests at a time in two rows of three seats. Guests are guided by a two person team of professional guide and tracker - a special feature of the Kwando Safaris wildlife experience. The two person team enables the guide to communicate points of interest and the complex interrelations that exist throughout the natural world, while the tracker ensures no sightings or tracks are missed. At Tau Pan, the tracker comes from the San Bushman tribe, a tribe that has traditionally lived in the Kalahari desert for generations and is intimately acquainted with the area and wildlife that is endemic to the Kalahari.

Walking with a member of the San Bushman tribe allows guests to appreciate how the tribe used to live off the land through traditions and skills passed from generation to generation. Conducted close to the camp area, the walk is conducted at a slow pace designed to allow engagement and question asking so that guests may better understand the nature of the bushman to the environment around them. Knowledge about how they would hunt, trap animals, and the manner in which they use the flora and fauna in their environment to help them survive are all shared with guests. Questions are always welcome!

Located in the south of Nxai Pans National Park are the seven baobabs known as Baines Baobabs or the Sleeping sisters.

Day trips to Baines’ Baobabs are highly popular, and include a picnic lunch at the site. These age-old trees were immortalised in paintings by the artist and adventurer Thomas Baines in 1862. If you were to compare Baines’ paintings to the scene today, you would find that after 150 years, the trees are nearly identical – testament to the age of these magnificent giants.

Game drives are undertaken in custom designed Toyota game viewing vehicles seating no more than six guests at a time in two rows of three seats. Guests are guided by a two person team of professional guide and tracker - a special feature of the Kwando Safaris wildlife experience. The two person team enables the guide to communicate points of interest and the complex interrelations that exist throughout the natural world, while the tracker ensures no sightings or tracks are missed. At Tau Pan, the tracker comes from the San Bushman tribe, a tribe that has traditionally lived in the Kalahari desert for generations and is intimately acquainted with the area and wildlife that is endemic to the Kalahari.

Walking with a member of the San Bushman tribe allows guests to appreciate how the tribe used to live off the land through traditions and skills passed from generation to generation. Conducted close to the camp area, the walk is conducted at a slow pace designed to allow engagement and question asking so that guests may better understand the nature of the bushman to the environment around them. Knowledge about how they would hunt, trap animals, and the manner in which they use the flora and fauna in their environment to help them survive are all shared with guests. Questions are always welcome!

Imagine falling asleep while unobstructed views of shooting stars streak across the sky, and counting the twinkling of stars until you drift off to sleep.

Located in a secluded spot at the far end of the camp, the sleep-out deck is an intimate experience for two, who wish to spend a wonderous evening under the impressive Kalahari night sky. The raised deck comprises 2 three-quarter beds, a washbasin and a toilet. Guests will be walked to the deck after dinner to spend the night, and can resume game activities in the morning as usual.

This can only be pre-booked with a minimum 3 night stay. Otherwise it can be booked upon the clients’ arrival in camp, subject to availability, and weather permitting.

Glide seamlessly along the waterways of Wilderness Jacana in a mokoro (a traditional dug-out canoe) and spot some of the fascinating creatures of the Delta – maybe even hippo and crocodile – as well as the wealth of waterbirds of the region.

* Water levels permitting.

Boating through the waterways to the east of camp allow for good game viewing along the channels.

* Water levels permitting.

Seasonal fishing with a limited supply of basic equipment (spinner rods and a small range of lures) is offered on a catch and release basis.

* Note that fishing is seasonal as it is prohibited by Botswana law in January and February due to breeding purposes.

Land-based game drives are offered when the inundation levels are lower, typically in the summer months. These drives can reveal the likes of elephant, zebra and other plains game, as well as the potential sightings of predators of the area such as lions, hyaenas, and African wild dogs.

Birding is excellent here with plenty of 'Okavango specials’ including the Pel’s fishing-owl and Endangered wattled crane.

Get your feet on the ground and enjoy a walk through the wilds of the Jao Reserve.

* Seasonal and subject to the availability of a qualified walking guide, therefore pre-booking is essential.