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Nxai Pan Camp
Nine chalets facing a waterhole where the elephants tend to steal the show, under some of the biggest skies in Botswana.
Nxai Pan Camp sits out in the open grassland with an endless horizon in every direction. The waterhole is directly in front of camp, which means a good deal of your game viewing happens from your own deck rather than from a vehicle. Elephants usually dominate the show.
Like Jack's Camp, this one runs against the usual Botswana rhythm. Game viewing is at its best during the rains, roughly November to April, when the fresh growth pulls animals in from a long way off: giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, gemsbok and impala, and behind them lion, cheetah and leopard. It is also the one camp on our list that closes for a month, in June.
Stay long enough and you can take a full day out to Baines Baobabs with a picnic. Those trees look essentially unchanged from when Thomas Baines painted them around 150 years ago, which is a strange thing to stand in front of.
The lodge itself is crescent-shaped, on a wooden deck and open-fronted so the view of the pans comes straight in. It is open plan, with eating and sitting areas together, and the large deck in front is used for breakfast and later for drinks round the fire. There is a plunge pool and loungers looking over the waterhole.
The chalets are spacious with thick walls that keep out the summer heat and the winter cold, which matters more here than most places. A sitting area, plenty of storage, a bathroom with twin basins and a shower, a separate toilet, an outdoor shower, and a private deck facing the water.
Nature walks go out with Bushman trackers, and the stargazing out here is exceptional given how little light there is for hundreds of miles.
Nine chalets including a two-bedroom family unit, with thick insulating walls, double or twin beds, a lounge area, fan and safe. Bathroom with two basins and a shower, separate flush toilet and an outdoor shower, and a private deck facing the waterhole.
Every trip we run is tailor-made, so if you want Nxai Pan Camp on an itinerary that is not listed, just say.
Tell us what you are after and we will tell you honestly whether it is the right fit, and what else is worth considering.
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