San Camp

San Camp is a permanent tented camp right on the edge of the Makgadikgadi. The tents are cream canvas rather than the usual khaki, which against that white empty landscape makes them look like a mirage from a distance. It is a deliberate and rather beautiful effect.

The mess tent holds the communal dining table, comfortable seating, a bar, a library and a small natural history museum. There is a separate tea tent and lounge where a proper high tea is served, and a yoga pavilion. The light out here is remarkable, particularly as the sun goes down. After dark there is no electric light at all, just paraffin lamps and candles.

Guest tents are high-ceilinged with four-poster beds, mosquito nets and chunky wooden storage chests. On cold nights the staff bring hot water bottles, which you will want: the Kalahari in winter is genuinely cold at night. The bathroom at the back has a flush toilet, a rain-head shower, a basin and solar-heated running water. The tents sit among tall palms and are set well apart, so you are not overlooked, and at night you can lie there and watch moonlight coming off the pans.

The resident guides work alongside local Bushmen on drives and walks. You learn about wildlife adapted to the Kalahari, the brown hyena among them, and about how the Bushmen live here: which plants do what, and the practical knowledge that makes survival possible in a place like this.

The meerkats are the other reason people come. They are used to people, so if you sit still and stay quiet they will come to you, and quite often climb on you to get a better look at the horizon.

It is a very special place, and unashamedly a romantic one.

The rooms

Tents

Six cream-canvas tents set well apart among the palms, high-ceilinged, with four-poster beds, mosquito nets and wooden furniture. En suite with a rain-head shower, flush toilet, basin, running solar-heated water and toiletries.

Good to know

• 6 guest tents
• Open all year
• Families with children under 8 need a private guide and vehicle
• A tent takes two adults and one child under 12 on a bedroll
• No electric light after dark, paraffin lamps and candles only