By Roxanne Reid
There’s something remarkable about the Kalahari, a wilderness magic that saturates its open spaces, scents the air, fluffs up the clouds and is carried on the wind. It’s a place so timeless you can pass almost unnoticed. So when we got the chance to visit Kalahari Plains Camp in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, Botswana, we packed our safari bags without a second thought.
There’s something remarkable about the Kalahari, a wilderness magic that saturates its open spaces, scents the air, fluffs up the clouds and is carried on the wind. It’s a place so timeless you can pass almost unnoticed. So when we got the chance to visit Kalahari Plains Camp in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, Botswana, we packed our safari bags without a second thought.
The Central Kalahari Game Reserve is huge, all 52 800 square kilometres of it. In the heart of Botswana, it’s the country’s largest conservation area and provides an experience totally unlike a Botswana safari in Chobe National Park or the Okavango Delta. Wilderness Safaris’ Kalahari Plains Camp lies in the northeast of this vastness, set in its own private 100 square kilometres of bundu.
Here in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve you’ll find open grassy plains, seasonal pans that dry up in winter, islands of acacia trees, and sand dunes covered with scrub. Yes, you’ll see lions and leopards and wild dogs here, but there are some arid area specialists that set the Kalahari apart. Think oryx (gemsbok), springbok, brown hyena and bat-eared fox, think ostrich, ground squirrel and the busy little meerkat climbing to the top of a wobbly shrub to get a better view. There’s a high concentration of cheetahs too.
Here in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve you’ll find open grassy plains, seasonal pans that dry up in winter, islands of acacia trees, and sand dunes covered with scrub. Yes, you’ll see lions and leopards and wild dogs here, but there are some arid area specialists that set the Kalahari apart. Think oryx (gemsbok), springbok, brown hyena and bat-eared fox, think ostrich, ground squirrel and the busy little meerkat climbing to the top of a wobbly shrub to get a better view. There’s a high concentration of cheetahs too.
Bat-eared fox
The Kalahari isn’t just a place but a feeling; a sense of remote wilderness, the freedom of open plains and wide blue skies, the scent of possibility. It’s undulating sand dunes and thorn trees, the smell of wild sage, and barking geckoes clicking from the entrance to their burrows as the sun plunges to the horizon. It’s small miracles like the liquid call of a sandgrouse as it flies overhead or a white-faced scops-owl dozing almost unseen in a tree.
And of course it’s the bigger, brasher enchantment of unruly wildebeest clowning around for no reason and kicking up dust, the striking black and white markings of an oryx, black-maned lions roaring, and cheetahs flying across the veld barely touching the earth as they chase down a steenbok or springbok.
And of course it’s the bigger, brasher enchantment of unruly wildebeest clowning around for no reason and kicking up dust, the striking black and white markings of an oryx, black-maned lions roaring, and cheetahs flying across the veld barely touching the earth as they chase down a steenbok or springbok.
Oryx, or gemsbok
If you love safari and wildlife and you want to look beyond bravura destinations to really feel the wonder of nature deep in your marrow, the Central Kalahari is your kind of place. Once you’ve experienced the tug of its magnetism, you’ll carry the Kalahari in your heart forever.
Kalahari Plains Camp
Wilderness Safaris’ Kalahari Plains Camp looks out over Big Pan, an open valley where you can watch wildlife from far away as it comes to drink at the waterhole, see all the way to a flat horizon that reveals sunsets in coloratura radiance.
Kalahari Plains Camp
Wilderness Safaris’ Kalahari Plains Camp looks out over Big Pan, an open valley where you can watch wildlife from far away as it comes to drink at the waterhole, see all the way to a flat horizon that reveals sunsets in coloratura radiance.
Kalahari sunset
The main area under thatch has a dining room and bar, and a lounge with sofas in blue and neutral shades with red accents. All are on wooden decks with a view of the waterhole. There’s also a pool area, an upstairs viewing deck and a small curio shop. Don’t miss a visit to the loo-with-a-view near the pool. The one on the left has a particularly good outlook over the waterhole, the vast valley and the boundless horizon.
The lounge area
The tented suites – ours was under a purple pod terminalia tree – have a queen-size bed, writing desk and en suite bathroom with dressing room. Since it was cold at night and in the early morning when we visited in June (though days were warm), we enjoyed the welcome hot-water bottle placed in our bed during the turn-down service.
The tented units with star-bed platform above
The bed, with a welcome message spelled out in dried beans
The bathroom with its pottery basins
Each unit has a deck ideal for relaxing cups of coffee or bird-watching. Upstairs on the flat roof is a viewing or sleep-out deck where you can enjoy a sunset or watch a sky perforated with stars.
Despite the cold, we enjoyed waking earlier than we had to before joining our first game drive of the day. This allowed us to experience the sunrise, watch shadows melt away, and hear birds begin their chorus, from turtle doves and red-eyed bulbuls to red-faced mousebirds and black-faced waxbills that came to drink at the bird bath in front of the lounge.
Things to do at Kalahari Plains Camp
1. Afternoon drive in the camp’s private area
Don’t miss an afternoon drive on Wilderness Safaris’ private patch of the vast Central Kalahari Game Reserve; this is what a Botswana safari is all about.
It was pure Kalahari, with silky Bushman grass sparkling in the late afternoon sunlight, Kalahari scrub-robins bobbing around the bushes and kori bustards tramping across the veld in search of food. Four giraffe bent to drink at the waterhole, barking geckoes called as the day cooled and bat-eared foxes foraged in the grass, digging for tasty morsels. Patches of springbok, oryx and a few busy-body jackals completed the picture.
Despite the cold, we enjoyed waking earlier than we had to before joining our first game drive of the day. This allowed us to experience the sunrise, watch shadows melt away, and hear birds begin their chorus, from turtle doves and red-eyed bulbuls to red-faced mousebirds and black-faced waxbills that came to drink at the bird bath in front of the lounge.
Things to do at Kalahari Plains Camp
1. Afternoon drive in the camp’s private area
Don’t miss an afternoon drive on Wilderness Safaris’ private patch of the vast Central Kalahari Game Reserve; this is what a Botswana safari is all about.
It was pure Kalahari, with silky Bushman grass sparkling in the late afternoon sunlight, Kalahari scrub-robins bobbing around the bushes and kori bustards tramping across the veld in search of food. Four giraffe bent to drink at the waterhole, barking geckoes called as the day cooled and bat-eared foxes foraged in the grass, digging for tasty morsels. Patches of springbok, oryx and a few busy-body jackals completed the picture.
Black-backed jackal
As guide Keoikantse Paul Sefo stopped to inspect some leopard tracks we heard jackals howling so went to investigate. We found two young black-backs calling and stopped to appreciate the late afternoon sun on their rich coats, the blaze of orange as the Kalahari sun set. We didn’t find the leopard, but we did see a spotted eagle owl in a tree as it got dark.
When we returned to camp we discovered that those who had stayed behind had seen two feisty honey badgers come down to the camp’s waterhole.
2. Morning drive to Deception Valley
Next morning we set out at dawn, but not before Paul showed us tracks at the bird bath about 10 metres from the lodge’s deck. A leopard had come to drink during the night. During the day, white-backed and lappet-faced vultures use the larger waterhole for bathing and preening and Mr Leopard is fussy, preferring the cleaner water of the small bird bath.
It was about 5 degrees Celsius, so we layered up with buffs and beanies and jackets and gloves, yet my eyes wouldn’t stop watering. None of that mattered when we found seven wild dogs loping across the veld toward the track in front of us at first light, one of them a pregnant alpha female. They jumped and yipped and grinned at each other. An eighth dog came straggling in from far away, head down in submission.
When we returned to camp we discovered that those who had stayed behind had seen two feisty honey badgers come down to the camp’s waterhole.
2. Morning drive to Deception Valley
Next morning we set out at dawn, but not before Paul showed us tracks at the bird bath about 10 metres from the lodge’s deck. A leopard had come to drink during the night. During the day, white-backed and lappet-faced vultures use the larger waterhole for bathing and preening and Mr Leopard is fussy, preferring the cleaner water of the small bird bath.
It was about 5 degrees Celsius, so we layered up with buffs and beanies and jackets and gloves, yet my eyes wouldn’t stop watering. None of that mattered when we found seven wild dogs loping across the veld toward the track in front of us at first light, one of them a pregnant alpha female. They jumped and yipped and grinned at each other. An eighth dog came straggling in from far away, head down in submission.
Wild dogs in poor light at dawn
All together now, they set off down a tweespoor track. We followed them for about 25 minutes as they trotted and stopped to scan and listen, intent on finding something to catch for breakfast. Behind them the sun rose deep crimson.
The dogs zig-zagged into the thick bush and we briefly lost them, but Paul branched off onto another track and picked them up further along. Twice more the same thing happened before they disappeared entirely. It was frustrating that we couldn’t go off road to follow them for longer, to see what they got up to. But here in a national reserve that’s not allowed.
The dogs zig-zagged into the thick bush and we briefly lost them, but Paul branched off onto another track and picked them up further along. Twice more the same thing happened before they disappeared entirely. It was frustrating that we couldn’t go off road to follow them for longer, to see what they got up to. But here in a national reserve that’s not allowed.
Giraffes
Soon we were en route to the Kalahari’s famed Deception Valley, so named because of the mirage effect that makes the pan appear to be full of water even in the dry season. It’s all that’s left of an ancient riverbed now dotted with islands of trees and shrubs.
The journey was a chance to notice how the landscape changes from open grassveld to thicket with Kalahari apple-leaf trees and then to open pans and undulating dunes where the dominant vegetation is umbrella thorns and black thorns. Paul kept us entertained with sightings of ground squirrels, ground agamas, oryx and springbok. ‘See that springbok, he’s the dominant ram in this area,’ he said. ‘We know that because he’s peeing and defecating on the same spot. Non-dominant rams will do that in two different places.’
And then there were elephant tracks on the road, with the added enticement of fresh elephant dung. Guided by Paul, we could see the marks of its trunk on the road as it sniffed to check for water in this dry area in a year of drought. They’re good at that, elephants. If they detect the heady smell of water under the surface, they dig with their feet, trunks and tusks, helping both themselves and other animals to access water. But there was nothing here and the elephant had moved on.
Brown hyena tracks, lion scat, wild dog scat, cheetah tracks, more leopard spoor – they all kept our spirits up. These animals were here. We just had to find them.
The journey was a chance to notice how the landscape changes from open grassveld to thicket with Kalahari apple-leaf trees and then to open pans and undulating dunes where the dominant vegetation is umbrella thorns and black thorns. Paul kept us entertained with sightings of ground squirrels, ground agamas, oryx and springbok. ‘See that springbok, he’s the dominant ram in this area,’ he said. ‘We know that because he’s peeing and defecating on the same spot. Non-dominant rams will do that in two different places.’
And then there were elephant tracks on the road, with the added enticement of fresh elephant dung. Guided by Paul, we could see the marks of its trunk on the road as it sniffed to check for water in this dry area in a year of drought. They’re good at that, elephants. If they detect the heady smell of water under the surface, they dig with their feet, trunks and tusks, helping both themselves and other animals to access water. But there was nothing here and the elephant had moved on.
Brown hyena tracks, lion scat, wild dog scat, cheetah tracks, more leopard spoor – they all kept our spirits up. These animals were here. We just had to find them.
Meerkat, or suricate
But we didn’t. You can’t expect to see everything in a single day; that’s not the way nature works. Especially in winter which isn’t the best time for game viewing in the Central Kalahari. To better your chances of a rash of spectacular sightings try the hot, green summer months when the desert springs to life.
But we’d had an exceptional early morning sighting of wild dogs – a first for us in a Kalahari environment – so we returned to camp thrilled about that. We’d also experienced a little more of the Kalahari magic.
3. Walk with the !Xhukwe Bushmen
Don’t miss the opportunity for a cultural interaction with the !Xhukwe Bushmen. (Although the politically correct term is San, I asked them which they preferred and they favour Bushmen, so I’m being polite rather than insensitive in using that term here.)
But we’d had an exceptional early morning sighting of wild dogs – a first for us in a Kalahari environment – so we returned to camp thrilled about that. We’d also experienced a little more of the Kalahari magic.
3. Walk with the !Xhukwe Bushmen
Don’t miss the opportunity for a cultural interaction with the !Xhukwe Bushmen. (Although the politically correct term is San, I asked them which they preferred and they favour Bushmen, so I’m being polite rather than insensitive in using that term here.)
A young Bushman pretends to be a steenbok caught in a trap
They set a trap and caught a ‘steenbok’, the action played out with much gusto and scuffling in the dust. They also mimed trapping a springhare in a burrow. For this, they used a stick with a steenbok horn tied on the end like a hook. They prodded from one side and frantically dug it out from the other – again with lots of action and dust flying. They were genuinely enjoying themselves in this play-acting.
How to make fire from scratch with just two sticks and some grass
At the end of the walk we arrived at an encampment of small thatched dwellings. They demonstrated how they make fire, using soft wood from the trumpet thorn and another harder wood to create, by friction, the spark that starts the grass underneath smoking. A little careful blowing and the smoking grass sprang into flame. I’ve seen it before, but this kind of magic never gets old.
4. Watch the waterhole in front of camp
4. Watch the waterhole in front of camp
White-backed vulture
Watch animals like wildebeest, giraffe, jackal, oryx, springbok, honey badger, white-backed and lappet-faced vultures come to the waterhole in front of the main area to drink. For an even better view, relax on the upstairs viewing platform with a glass of something cold, your binos and camera near at hand.
5. Cool off in the pool
5. Cool off in the pool
Loungers at the pool
Summer days in the Kalahari can reach well into the 30s (Celsius), so you’ll be hot when you get back from a morning drive and can cool off in the camp’s salt-water pool. Even in autumn and spring months like April/May and August/September, the days can be hot enough for a swim although early mornings and nights are cool. Laze on a lounger by the pool, read a book, but keep your binos with you for a great view of any wildlife that comes to the waterhole.
6. Go bird-watching
Enhance your game driving experience by seeing how many bird species you can spot. Or walk around the camp in search of them, especially at the bird bath in front of the lounge.
The Kalahari is home to more than 200 species, many of them arid area specials. Some of my favourites are sandgrouse, kori bustard, black korhaan (also called the helicopter bird because of the way it comes in to land) and the red crested korhaan. Guides sometimes call this the suicide bird for the male’s habit of flying vertically upward to about 30m, then drawing in its wings and dive-bombing to earth. It pulls up just short of the ground and flutters a short distance to land.
And just in case you think all Kalahari birds are dull-coloured, look out for the spectacular crimson-breasted shrike, violet-eared waxbill, lilac-breasted roller and swallow-tailed bee-eater.
7. Swap stories around the fire before dinner
6. Go bird-watching
Enhance your game driving experience by seeing how many bird species you can spot. Or walk around the camp in search of them, especially at the bird bath in front of the lounge.
The Kalahari is home to more than 200 species, many of them arid area specials. Some of my favourites are sandgrouse, kori bustard, black korhaan (also called the helicopter bird because of the way it comes in to land) and the red crested korhaan. Guides sometimes call this the suicide bird for the male’s habit of flying vertically upward to about 30m, then drawing in its wings and dive-bombing to earth. It pulls up just short of the ground and flutters a short distance to land.
And just in case you think all Kalahari birds are dull-coloured, look out for the spectacular crimson-breasted shrike, violet-eared waxbill, lilac-breasted roller and swallow-tailed bee-eater.
7. Swap stories around the fire before dinner
A tradition on safari is a campfire in the evening, where you can watch the flames leap into the darkening skies even in hot weather, but pull your safari chairs closer to warm your hands when it’s cold. This is the time to talk about your day and any special sightings, to swap stories with other guests or ask the guides your burning questions about nature and all things Kalahari.
8. Enjoy the food
You won’t go hungry at Kalahari Plains Camp, with breakfast, lunch, high-tea, snacks with sundowners and then dinner all well catered for. The chefs do a superb job. There was fresh fruit at breakfast – a joy here in the arid Kalahari. Delicious dishes like creamy mushroom risotto, roast lamb, and pear-and-almond tart were some of the dinner options during our visit.
9. Sleep under the stars
8. Enjoy the food
You won’t go hungry at Kalahari Plains Camp, with breakfast, lunch, high-tea, snacks with sundowners and then dinner all well catered for. The chefs do a superb job. There was fresh fruit at breakfast – a joy here in the arid Kalahari. Delicious dishes like creamy mushroom risotto, roast lamb, and pear-and-almond tart were some of the dinner options during our visit.
9. Sleep under the stars
A great advantage of the flat roof at your tented unit is that you can ask the staff to make up the beds there for a night of star-gazing. Clean white linen, soft solar lamps, a hot-water bottle on cooler nights, and you’re set for a romantic night of wonderment. Watch millions of stars and see a Milky Way more packed with stars than you would have thought possible. This is all a bonus of the dry Kalahari air with almost zero light pollution to hamper the experience.
Sleeping out is also a chance to feel the heartbeat of the Kalahari, to listen for southern white-faced scops-owls, the cry of jackals or the roar of lions. (Read Sounds of the Kalahari for other special things to listen for.) Wake early so as not to miss a moment of the changing pink and lavender light along the horizon at dawn.
10. Go on a behind-the-scenes sustainability tour
Ask to go on a tour behind the scenes to learn about the camp’s sustainability efforts. It runs on solar energy, so the Kalahari environment itself is the source of the energy in camp. All battery storage and most of the solar panels are hidden away out of sight of the guests.
In this arid environment so different to Okavango and Chobe with their natural water channels and rivers, it’s more important than ever to conserve water. The flat roofs of the rooms help to collect rainwater during the rainy season. Average annual rainfall in the Central Kalahari is just 115mm a year, but the camp’s storage tanks hold up to 150 000 litres.
Kalahari Plains Camp also has a borehole, but the water is so salty it’s only used for showering and for the pool. A reverse osmosis desalination unit produces safe drinking water for the camp.
Sleeping out is also a chance to feel the heartbeat of the Kalahari, to listen for southern white-faced scops-owls, the cry of jackals or the roar of lions. (Read Sounds of the Kalahari for other special things to listen for.) Wake early so as not to miss a moment of the changing pink and lavender light along the horizon at dawn.
10. Go on a behind-the-scenes sustainability tour
Ask to go on a tour behind the scenes to learn about the camp’s sustainability efforts. It runs on solar energy, so the Kalahari environment itself is the source of the energy in camp. All battery storage and most of the solar panels are hidden away out of sight of the guests.
In this arid environment so different to Okavango and Chobe with their natural water channels and rivers, it’s more important than ever to conserve water. The flat roofs of the rooms help to collect rainwater during the rainy season. Average annual rainfall in the Central Kalahari is just 115mm a year, but the camp’s storage tanks hold up to 150 000 litres.
Kalahari Plains Camp also has a borehole, but the water is so salty it’s only used for showering and for the pool. A reverse osmosis desalination unit produces safe drinking water for the camp.
The staff are a big part of Kalahari Plains Camp's charm. From left: Mavis Ntsekwa, Mokgathanyi Jackie Elisha and Wame Teko
Note: We were guests of Kalahari Plains Camp for two nights, but I had free rein to write what I chose. We paid for all travel costs to get to Botswana.
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Copyright © Roxanne Reid - No words or photographs on this site may be used without permission from roxannereid.co.za
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