Speak to one of our experts
01235 635749
Start planning your holiday
Our Review

San Camp

Sleeps
Resort
Makgadikgadi
,
Botswana
Type
Romance in the Kalahari
Rooms
Cabins
Location
Makgadikgadi
Botswana

San Camp

Romance in the Kalahari
Sleeps
Resort
Makgadikgadi
,
Botswana
Type
Romance in the Kalahari
Rooms
Cabins
Location
Makgadikgadi
Botswana

San Camp is the embodiment of timeless elegance and romantic style, with uninterrupted views across the shimmering pans.

pink color quotes symbols icon

Lizzy Nelson

The Camp

Imagine a smattering of billowing white tents, shaded by desert palms and surrounded by a thousand acres of shimmering, sparkling nothingness. You’ve just dreamt up San Camp, the impossibly romantic, seven-bedroom camp on the edge of the Nwetwe Pan in Botswana’s Makgadikgadi. San isn’t a place for frills and fluffiness. The magic is in the minimalism, both at the camp and in the mysterious desert landscape. You can forget the tourist crowds and over-stuffed 4x4s too; it’s just you, the wildlife, and a handful of local San Bushmen, waiting to share their secrets with you.

Of all the Makgadikgadi pans, we think Nwetwe is the most iconic. Meerkats pop up from the desert dust, brown hyaena hide in the grass, and you’ll see red hartebeest, springbok and gemsbok scurrying between them. But San Camp isn’t just about wildlife-watching – it’s about the atmosphere and the ethereal surroundings. Disappear into a remote world, a million miles from glowing screens, where the 360-degree panoramas are so vast, you can see the curvature of the earth…

The Rooms

Think enormous four-posters, draped in crisp cotton and feather-soft blankets, raised high above Persian rugs. Mahogany writing desks and leather armchairs contrast the rugged surroundings, and there’s a lazy day bed just outside, perfect for an afternoon of view-gazing. Ensuite bathrooms have hot, running water showers and flush loos, and there’s plenty of water in the elegant copper jugs and basins. The entire camp runs on solar-power and when darkness falls, you’ll find lanterns scattered around to light the way.

At the main area, the open-sided pavilions are bright and breezy. Gather in the splendid mess tent for a three-course feast, accompanied by white linen and crystal glasses, or sink into a cushion in the tea tent and treat yourself to one of the best brownies in the desert. If you can drag your eyes away from the surroundings, take a peek at their Natural History Museum cabinets with their eclectic collections of old maps, fossils and artefacts, and then, it’s time to let your mind unwind in the sanctuary of the yoga pavilion.

When to Visit

San Camp is seasonal, and operates during Botswana’s dry season from mid-April to mid-October. These months are the only time that the Ntwetwe Pan is accessible. When the rains begin to fall, the pans morph in to a totally different place, and although they are magnificent to look at, the rain makes for rather a dangerous adventure! If you would like to travel during the green season (November to March), consider Jack’s Camp, a year-round property also on the Makgadikgadi Pans.

Ntwetwe Pan changes softly and subtly as the dry season rolls on. Pools evaporate, whiteness dominates, and the baobabs seem even more striking. The predictable weather allows us to offer our activities on an unpredictable land, and you can quad bike across the lunar-like expanse, meet the meerkats, interact with a group of Zu/’hoasi Bushmen, and lie out on the pans and count the stars from horizon to horizon. As the land becomes drier, the permanent water sources and waterholes around San Camp are an important refuge for wildlife and although it can seem like a landscape of nothingness, the wildlife is never far away.

Accommodation & Amenities
  • 7 tents: 5 twins, 2 doubles
  • Ensuite bathrooms with indoor showers
  • Tented yoga pavilion
  • Wifi available: No
  • Hairdryers: No
  • Battery charging facilities: In the mess tent
  • Complimentary laundry service
  • Child policy: We welcome all ages
  • Disabled access: Please enquire with reservations
Activities
  • Meerkat Experience
  • Bush Walk
  • 4x4 Game Drives
  • Night Drives
  • Horseback Safari
  • Quad Biking
  • Visit Chapman’s Baobab
  • Makgadikgadi National Park
  • Yoga
Fun Fact

San Camp wouldn’t have happened without the knowledge from local Zu/’hoasi Bushmen. Nothing is permanent at the camp and all of it can be completely dismantled, leaving Nwetwe almost exactly as it was before they arrived.

No items found.

Landscape

The real allure of San Camp is in its minimalism, and this extends to the surroundings. San sits at the edge of the mysterious Makgadikgadi Salt Pans (overlooking Nwetwe Pan to be precise), in the heart of the Kalahari Desert and adjoining the Makgadikgadi National Park. The pans were once a super lake covering most of Botswana, and they shimmer seemingly never-ending all the way to the horizon, interrupted only by a scattering of desert palms and baobabs. The beautiful nothingness brings with it a cathartic sense of silence, and there is truly nowhere on earth like this magical corner of Botswana.

Wildlife

San Camp’s great appeal is the nothingness, but that certainly doesn’t mean there’s nothing to see. You’ll find wildebeest and zebra roaming in straggled herds, standing out like sore thumbs against the pristine whiteness of the earth, and ostrich bobbing on the horizon. Stay for a few days and there’s a good chance of spotting lion and elephant on a game drive, and even brown hyena, one of the continent’s most rare and elusive mammals that’s pretty much impossible to see anywhere else. If you’re looking to tick a few species off your bird list, then sharpen your pencil for the pan is home to Kori bustards and northern black korhaan, chestnut-backed finch larks and capped wheatears. And we couldn’t talk about the Makgadikgadi without mention of our meerkats. We’ve worked with researchers to habituate a whole mob of them, and the cheeky fellows aren’t afraid to come and find out exactly who you are.

Impact

When you visit San Camp, you will be directly supporting the following Natural Selection conservation initiatives:

  • Wild Vision
  • Wild Shots Outreach
  • Makgadikgadi National Park Repair
  • Pack for a Purpose
  • Botswana Community and Conservation Initiative
  • Covid-19 Village Support
  • Makgadikgadi Large Mammal Migration
  • Coaching Conservation

No items found.

Speak to our travel specialist today & start planning your holiday

Enquire now
or

Get Inspired

dashed gray circle holding click-drag labels