Kalahari Plains Camp

Kalahari Plains Camp is located in central Botswana's Kalahari Desert and offers some of the best summertime wildlife viewing in southern Africa.

The camp is situated in the remote Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR), a vast protected area covering 20 400 square miles (52 800 sq kms) and Botswana's largest conservation area. The camp offers game drives to explore the semi-desert ecosystem, as well as cultural interactions with the indigenous San (bushmen) people, a hunter-gatherer tribe that have lived here for centuries.

Wildlife viewing is at its peak during the summer green season (between December and April), when local rainfall transforms the otherwise dry desert landscape into a green grassland, attracting large numbers of herbivores that arrive to feast on the nutrient-rich grasses and other vegetation. The short grasses are particularly rich in the northern part of the reserve (where the camp is located), where fossil riverbeds and a system of rain pans provide for excellent conditions for grazers.

Wildlife commonly seen during the rainy season includes large herds of springbok and good numbers of oryx (gemsbok), red hartebeest, and blue wildebeest. The large number of herbivores present here at this time attracts plenty of predators, particularly cheetah, which do very well in the flat open plains, where they can chase down springboks. Other predators seen regularly include lion, leopard, and black-backed jackal.

Kalahari Plains is located in the prime wildlife viewing area in the northern section of the reserve. A favorite activity is a full-day trip to Deception Valley, an ancient riverbed which today is an 50-mile-long (80-km) gentle valley floor covered with short palatable grasses, interspersed with picturesque tree islands. The name 'Deception' is derived from the mirage effect caused by the dry surface of the pan halfway along its length, which often appears misleadingly full of water.

Mark and Delia Owens lived and conducted research on wildlife in the CKGR for seven years during the 1970s (before the reserve was opened for tourism) and their campsite was based in Deception Valley. The Owens' best-selling book Cry of the Kalahari (highly recommended) is based on their experiences during that time.

Kalahari Plains Camp is one of just two permanent accommodations located in the reserve (there are also numerous camping sites that are used by overland camping operators and self-campers). The camp offers 8 spacious tented guest units, one of which is a double/family unit. The guest rooms are made of canvas and wood atop elevated wooden decking and connected to the main camp area by sandy footpaths. Each room also has a rooftop sleep-out deck with a bed.

The main dining, lounge, and pool area are raised to allow viewing across the grassland in front of camp.

Wilderness Safaris are one of Africa's leading safari operators and they strive to minimize energy consumption at all their camps. Kalahari Plains Camp is powered by a hybrid system, which combines solar power and a diesel-powered generator. Strict eco-friendly environmental standards are maintained so that no harmful chemicals or waste is allowed to enter the pristine ecosystem of the Kalahari.

About the Kalahari

Located in the western-central part of Botswana, the Kalahari Desert covers some 350 000 square miles (900 000 kms), including much of northern and western Botswana and significant parts of eastern Namibia and northwest South Africa. Smaller parts of the Kalahari extend into Angola, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

The Kalahari is a semi-desert, which differs from a true desert in that it receives more rain and thus has more ground cover vegetation and more trees. The result is an arid region that supports good numbers of wildlife, especially during and after the rains.

Botswana occupies by far the greatest portion of the Kalahari, and the landscape here is dominated by open plains, sand that varies in color between yellow and red, salt pans (the largest of which is the Makgadikgadi Pans), and fossilized river beds (the Kalahari region was historically much wetter and cooler, at least from 30 to 11 thousand years ago).

The wildlife-rich Okavango Delta in northern Botswana is in fact part of the Kalahari, but it has been transformed into a paradise for animals due to rivers from the north bringing fresh water and sediments into Botswana, where is spills into a shallow and flat trough in the sands between fault lines, creating a fan-shaped network of islands and waterways that forms the shape of a massive river delta.

The name Kalahari is derived from the Tswana word 'kgala', which means 'thirst' (Tswana is the native language spoken in most of Botswana).

Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR)

Botswana has protected a large portion of the Kalahari Desert in various reserves, including the Makgadikgadi National Park, the Moremi Game Reserve (part of the Okavango Delta), Chobe National Park, and the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR).

The reserve was declared in 1961 to protect the indigenous San (or bushmen), a hunter-gatherer people that were once found throughout much of southern Africa, but were pushed out into marginalized areas by the arrival of Bantu tribes from the north long ago. The Kalahari became their home and they have eked out an existence here in small numbers for centuries.

The reserve was originally closed to the public for around 30 years. In the early 1990s, the CKGR was opened for tourism, which for many years consisted solely of overland self-campers and organized safari trips originating out of Maun, Botswana.

Today, there are a good number of camping sites located along a sandy track road circuit that visits the various waterholes surrounding Deception Valley and Passarge Valley. There are also two permanent safari camps in the CKGR that offer fully-inclusive safaris to their guests.

The CKGR covers a vast area in the western/central part of Botswana, spanning 20 400 square miles (52 800 sq kms), making it one of the largest game reserves in the world. The northern part of the reserve, particularly the area around two fossilized river valleys - Deception Valley and Passarge Valley, becomes a haven for wildlife once the rains begin (usually in mid-December). Visiting this unique ecosystem from that December until April is a very special experience for wildlife and nature lovers.

Wildlife in the CKGR includes species that are tolerant of semi-desert conditions. Springbok are the most common large mammal and are found throughout the reserve all year. Other herbivores that are likely to be seen, particularly during the green season include blue wildebeest, oryx, red hartebeest, eland, greater kudu, giraffe, steenbok, common duiker, and Cape ground squirrel.

Predators that may be seen include lion, cheetah, leopard, brown hyena, black-backed jackal, Cape fox, bat-eared fox, aardwolf, caracal, honey badger, meerkat, yellow mongoose, and African wild cat. African wild dogs are seen on occasion.

Bird life includes many desert-adapted species, with likely species including ostrich, secretarybird, and northern black korhaan. Raptors are present in good numbers and include yellow-billed kite, pale-chanting goshawk, and a variety of eagles and falcons. Over 220 species of birds have been recorded in the CKGR.