A moon-like landscape that transforms into a gourmet soup for migrating birds in the wet season. A lesson on how to make poison arrow tips. A hunt for stone-age tools. Such experiences don’t make the usual itineray on African safari trips.

Situated at the end of the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans, Jack’s Camp is a home away from home and far from “roughing it.”

But there isn’t anything usual about Jack’s Camp, a classic-style tented safari camp, and that includes its location on the edge of a 100-mile (160 km) salt pan in the Kalahari Desert of Botswana.

Situated in an isolated island of grasses and tall fan palms along the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans’ western basin, Jack’s Camp feels deliciously remote, mysterious and otherworldly. Fear not. It is an easy 45-minute flight by bush plane from Maun, the main entryway into Botswana, plus a 20-minute drive from the airstrip to camp. Or, a two-and-a-half hour drive (in good weather) by four-wheel drive vehicle.

Being in the middle of the desert doesn't mean you’re roughing it. Refurbished in 2003, Jack’s Camp has all the amenities associated with a luxury safari experience except electricity: fine wine and dining, excellent service, hot-and-cold running water, and comfortable accommodations in hardwood-floored tents furnished in British campaign style. Paraffin lanterns create a magical atmosphere at night. The en suite flush toilet — a real wooden throne — makes you feel like royalty. The main mess hall doubles as a museum of the desert, complete with a stuffed aardvark, archaeological artifacts, a collection of animal skulls, and photos tracing the life and adventures of namesake Jack Bousfield, a legendary figure in the area. The small size of the camp (ten tents), cozy British camp-style furnishings, and the warm and welcoming staff make you feel right at home.

Chapman’s Baobab Tree, upwards of thousands of years old, stands as a beacon in the Kalahari desert wilderness.

Camp activities focus on revealing the rich and often hidden abundance of desert life and the fragile ecology of the salt pans, the ancient remnants of Africa’s largest inland sea. You won’t see the Big Five here, but the viewing during the dry season (May-October) has its rewards. During a game drive at dusk, watch a rare brown hyena mother and her cubs nuzzling in their den, spot ostriches and secretary birds strutting across the plain, or encounter an aardwolf foraging for a last snack of termites before heading home. A colony of meerkats with recent offspring provide a good laugh as some dig frantically for food while others stand at attention like tiny soldiers, watching for birds of prey.

Nearby, the colossal Chapman’s Baobab, an upside-down-looking tree that may be several thousands of years old, still stands as a beacon in the wilderness, as it did for Livingstone and other earlier explorers to the area. A jaw-dropping sunset and the entire Milky Way galaxy arched across the huge Kalahari sky are your bonuses after a dusty, all-terrain vehicle evening caravan to the middle of the salt pan (followed by an al fresco gourmet dinner). A morning search of the salt pans’ shriveled salt-and-algae crust reveals ancient animal fossils and stone artifacts made by early man. Don’t miss a walk with the San (bushmen) guides who reveal their secrets of survival in the Kalahari, their ancestral home for thousands of years.

The colorful Kalahari sunset is your reward at the end of long day in the desert.

In the rainy season (November-April), the salt pans become a sea of color as flocks of flamingos, storks, wattled crane and other birds build their nests and feast on the smorgasbord of tiny brine shrimp and frogs awakened from their slumbers by the rain. Thousands of migrating zebras and wildebeests re-populate the landscape, followed by predators, such as lions and cheetahs.

No matter when you go, you’ll find nothing is “usual” at Jack’s Camp.

If You Go

Book well ahead of your planned travel dates. Prices vary by low/high season. More details about Jack's Camp can be found at:

Uncharted Africa Safari Co.
www.unchartedafrica.com

African Safari Consultants
www.classicsafaris.com/CampsandLodges/jacks.htm

Botswana Department of Tourism
www.botswanatourism.org

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