Makgadikgadi Pans  - Botswana 

"They said only idiots go there. I thought 
fine, that's the place for me."
                                                  - Jack Bousfield

Photos from Jacks Camp
      and Makgadikgadi Pans

“Chemical warfare in the desert” is how Ralph Bousfield, zoologist, guide and owner of Jack’s Camp, explained the burning in our eyes resulting from the pungent fragrance of the wild sage that grew in the Makgadikgadi Pans reserve. He went on to explain how the powerful and deadly combination of poisons employed by the San (Bushmen) in their arrows derives from natural substances evolved in  100’s of millions of years struggle between plants and insects, a story in which mammals appeared only recently, and man even more so.  As we proceeded across the rolling grasslands towards a line of zebra and wildebees stretching across the horizon, one of the last vestiges in Africa of the animal migrations, Ralph continued to point out the novel adaptations that occurred in the Kalahari semi-desert.  Every 1/2 mile along the road, a Black Korhan, with territories as clear as if mapped out at the local planning office, would leap out of the grass, flapping its wings, and cackling loudly to decry our trespass.

Uncharted Africa combines 1920's East African panache with scientific exploration of desert biology and adaptation, stone age archaeology, bushman anthropology and the unique geology of the Makgadikgadi Pans. Owners Ralph Bousfield and Catherine Raphaely  offer a unique opportunity to venture into a part of the world that had been lost since the beginning of history. The headquarters at Jack's Camp provides the focus for ongoing research in the surrounding area conducted by visiting research scientists.

Staff guides are biologists and zoologists often pursuing their own graduate research of the Kalahari desert. Uncharted Africa works closely with the U.N. recognized "First Peoples of the Kalahari" to provide a safari experience in the Central Kalahari that will allow close observation of both the wildlife and the unique way of life of the Bushmen, perhaps the only culture that has maintained a truly sustainable culture in this very fragile ecosystem.

Uncharted Africa operates two permanent camps, in luxury East African tents, with four poster beds. Jack's camp overlooks the grasslands of the Makgadikgadi game reserve. San Camp is set on the edge of the Makgadikgadi Pans themselves. Facilities include private toilet facilities and bucket showers. Mobile luxury camps are fitted with polished copper water jugs, paraffin lamps, white cotton sheets, and feather bedding.  Excellent well prepared meals are provided. Additionally the newly established Planet Baobab in Gweta offers 

At Makgadikgadi we observe  the only natural wildlife migration that still occurs in Southern Africa, the herds of wildebees and zebra that move South from Chobe and Moremi every year after the rains have brought new grass to the Kalahari. During the dry season you will witness the unique desert wildlife of Southern Africa, including springbok, gemsbok, and suricate. In the dry season 4 wheel drive quad-bikes are used to explore deep into the dried out and desolate pans, and guests may participate in treks to Kubu Island, a granite outcropping in the Pan covered with Baobabs. Enroute you will visit a recently discovered ancient defense fortification in the pans.

Uncharted Africa Safari vehicles are top of the range Toyota Landcruisers, extremely comfortable and have multiple thoughtful details that make them perfect for game viewing such as roof top seats, leather bean bags for photography etc.

Suggested Reading:

Mark and Delia Owens "Cry of the Kalahari" 
Laurens van der Post's "Lost World of the Kalahari" 

Uncharted Africa offers the following activities:
- Stay in Jack's Camp or San Camp with local excursions and game-viewing (3 day minimum recommended)
- Kubu Island Trek
- Makgadikgadi and the Central Kalahari
- Overland safari in the Okavango Delta

The Makgadikgadi Pans are the size of Switzerland in extent, relics of an ancient lake that used to connect with the Zambezi River, but dried up approximately 1,500 years ago with the shifting of the earth's crust. These pans fill to a shallow depth during the wet season, forming one of the most important wetland sites in Africa. They attract large flocks of flamingo and up to 30,000 fledglings can be seen. One can also see herds of tens of thousands of migratory wildebees and zebra, the only remaining animal migration in Southern Africa. When the pans are dry they form a desolate flat featureless surface, white in color from the dried salt. The Makgadikgadi Pans Game Reserve encloses the grasslands to the northwest of the pans and has its western boarder on the Boteti River. 

The archaeology of Makgadikgadi testifies to the antiquity of man's long association with this great, ancient lake system, for around its perimeter are to be found stone tools that date back to the Early Stone Age times, more than 10 000 years ago. On and near the Pan, artifacts from the Middle and Late Stone Ages exist in a number of localities. The time of arrival of the first the Iron Age people, is not known, but extensive village remains dating from as early as 1000 AD have been discovered around the edges of the lake. So too have a number of sites more recent than that. 
 

Kubu  itself, a granite extrusion island studded with baobabs, is  one of the most graphically beautiful spots in Botswana and is full of intriguing detail, such as walling, trade and bushman beads. 30 000 flamingo fledge here when water is good and although the mud mound nests are deserted at the times of the year when we are able to visit Kubu, they are still very interesting to visit. Many chicks are left to die if they hatch too late to be able to join the incredible march across the Pans that the young flamingos undertake in search of water. Their remains lie on the pan surface almost petrified by the salt. Unhatched eggs also remain in some of the thousands of abandoned nests...

• Wet season - game drives to experience the migration of animals from Okavango/Moremi/Chobe in search of fresh grass in the desert - night drives - game walks with Bushman trackers - camping on the pan 
• Dry season - additional opportunities ot explore the pans on quad bikes and explore archaeological sites. 

MOBILE SAFARI - set departures or tailor-made safaris
Scheduled Departures for Delta mobile safari, Kubu Island Trip and Bushman Trip.

Uncharted Africa mobile safaris offer all the luxury and comfort of their permanent camps. Five tons of crisp damask, fridges, spacious East African tents furnished in made-to-order woodwork and canvas will greet you upon arrival at every stop. Polished copper jugs, paraffin lanterns, en-suite bucket showers and long drop loos hold true to the original ideal of the classic safari. Portable elegance and style! Perfection for groups who cannot get into crowded camps in high season or individuals who value privacy and luxurious isolation.  Guests travel in very comfortable open game viewing vehicles while the equipment and staff are moved independently.

This is simply the most luxurious and best conducted overland safari in Southern Africa.  It follows a time honored tradition drawing on many generations of family experience running safaris in East Africa and Southern Africa.  Camp will be comprised of large tents equipped in a luxurious fashion unequaled on any mobile safari that we know of. Real beds, down pillows, pure cotton sheets, bone-handled silver cutlery, damask table linen and wood and brass custom designed furniture. The only concessions to roughing it are the bucket showers and long drop loos which are private and en suite attached to your tents for safety purposes but are still open air. 

The  7 night itinerary explores the land and water of one of the worlds most spectacular wilderness, split between three camp sites. Two three-night sojourns offer quite different experiences in the Moremi, one game and one on water, linked by a night's camping on a Delta island.  Trips can dovetail into mobile extensions into the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, Jacks and San Camps, or a trip to visit the Bushmen for a cultural safari unique to our operation.
 

Mobile tents include toilets and bucket showers with hot water

Open safari vehicles provide sun-shade and roof-top viewing

DAY 1:
Guests are met by their Guide and private vehicle at Maun airport and transferred by road into the Moremi Game Reserve. Once in the Moremi a slow meander/game drive to familiarize ourselves with the area and then into our first camp in good time to shower and unpack before sundowners and dinner. 

DAY 2: 
Breakfast in the first light of day and head out in the trucks to start introducing you to some of the animals of the dry flood plain environment. Looking for zebra, wildebeest, impala and predators such as wild dog and cheetah. Return for lunch and siesta. Head out for sun downers after a high tea and cakes. Park at the edge of a water holes/lagoon and watch herds of elephants and a myriad of birds coming down to drink whilst the sun sets and you are given an informal talk on the geological history of the area. Return for dinner. Food on an Uncharted Africa Safari is renowned throughout the industry for it's fresh ingredients and original versions of classic dishes. Three course meals under the stars include such treats as ostrich, fillet steak, delectable fruit tarts and chocolate eclairs.

Day 3
Another early start and out in the trucks for the whole day. The staff will load up a full lunch and picnic gear and the fridges will be packed. Head out to explore the wider area around our first camp. Search out the creatures and plants typical of each ecosystem and explore the interrelationships of both the species and the systems. Seek out the elusive predators and observe and interpret their behaviour. Picnic and siesta under a shady mangosteen.  Return to bed tired but happy 

Day 4
Pack the trucks and a trailer with the overnight equipment for a fly camp. Mosquito net tents, folding stools, food, bedrolls, lanterns, bucket showers, etc. Take a slow drive to Xakanaxa and board the boats to explore the waters of the delta. Putt along the maze of channels stopping to admire the fantastic birdlife and diversity of aquatic life. Learn about the ecology of the waters and look at the important components of the ecosystems. Arrive at our island camp, deep in the lagoon systems, just after sunset to shower and relax around the fire before dinner. 

Day 5
Rise early and hop back into the boats with a packed lunch. Search out hippo and bathing elephant to demonstrate the importance of water to these enormous creatures. Marvel at the majesty of elephants from only a few yards as they wash and feed on the roots of aquatic plants. Take lunch on a sandy bank in the river and cool off at a safe swimming site. Drift back to the vehicles and head on to the third and final site in good time to relax, wash and unwind in camp. Your camp will have been moved from the first site to the second while you have been camped on the remote delta island.

Day 6
Rise early and after a sumptuous breakfast explore the junction between land and water. Exploring the mosaic of islands, dry flood plain and dry woodland that border the great swamps. Search for Lechwe and Sitatunga, unusual semi-aquatic antelope specially adapted to the fringe environment. 

 Lunch and siesta in camp.  Take a short drive from camp to view the game moving about the reeds 
and rushes of watered flood plain. Sundowners on the edge of a pretty  waterway. Eat a big dinner and go to sleep in tent as frogs pop and whistle in the reeds.

Day 7
All day predator hunt. Spend the last day indulging yourself completely in seeking your favourite species. Leopard spotting, lion tracking, cheetah chasing and dog discovering. Immerse yourself completely in the incredible spectacles the delta has to offer. If you want to watch lions mating for two hours or prefer to watch bee eaters hawking insects on the wing then so be it. Picnic and siesta in the arms of a giant baobab and spend the afternoon seeking out hyena dens and as the day cools down watch for hunting cats. Return to camp tired but happy once again.

Day 8
Pack up in the morning. Say your fare-wells to the camp staff. Drive to airstrip through the Moremi and get onto the plane to fly onto your next destination. 
Price $3500 per person, departing from Maun.

Bushman Trekking Hunting and Gathering… A visit to the Jo/hoansi in  the Remote Western Kalahari (4 nights)

Day 1: Arrive by midday at the Airstrip by light aircraft  where you will be met and transferred to a remote campsite deep in the ancestral gathering lands of the Joan/huansi Bushmen. 

Settle into your traditional grass hut or tent either one replete with proper bed, feather bedding and all the accoutrements of a proper safari. Partake of a fresh and tasty lunch under the shade of a fragrant shelter of wild grass thatch and retire for a peaceful siesta to recover from your journey. 

After a delicious tea, walk through the bush to the nearby Bushman village where you will be met in a traditional manner by the elders of the Joan/huansi community. 

Around the fire before dinner, listen to the history of the Bushmen people from their origins to the complex political challenges that are confronting them today. 

Day 2: In the morning, walk out into the bush with the men, women, children and your Guides. 

The focus of the walk will be to provide a gentle introduction to the Kalahari and Bushmen way of life. Spontaneous gathering and discussions about the uses of plants and wildlife by your Bushmen Guides provide the link between culture and wild environment that we seek to offer our Guests on these very special safaris. 

An adolescent Bushman girl knows more than 200 species of usable plants. An extraordinary variety of plants and herbs with both culinary and medicinal value will be found. 

Find suitable rhygozum plants with your digging stick - the most important tool the Bushman uses for harvesting. Return to the Bushmen village and by the fire, prepare the gathering tool you will use over the next few days. 

On the way your Guide will point out the distinct ecological characteristics of this area and its animal and bird species. 

Return to camp for lunch and a siesta. 

In the afternoon return to the village and learn from the women how to prepare bush foods using only the most basic of tools and an open fire. You will be able to sample a variety of foods from wild spinach and roast beetles to ostrich egg omelette cooked on the coals. 

Observe the women as they demonstrate how to make beads from ostrich eggs and the simple but striking jewellery from porcupine quills, seeds and ostrich eggs. Leather is decorated with both glass and ostrich beads to complex and beautiful effect. 

The women may do the melon dance, a joyful expression that celebrates a successful harvest. 

Return to camp for a rather more conventional but still delicious meal and retire to bed. 
 
 

Traditional Bushman hunt

Bushman

Day 3: After a restful night's sleep, meet the men after breakfast to prepare for a traditional hunt. Walk into the bush and search out the poison grub beetle, gathering suitable roots, Sanseveria leaves and branches for the manufacture of rope, bows and arrows. 

After lunch and a siesta in camp for lunch return to the Bushmen village to watch the men prepare bows, arrows and quivers. 

Young boys may also demonstrate various traditional games that provide training for the hand-to-eye co-ordination skills that will be so necessary when hunting. 

Day 4: Depart early after a hearty breakfast of porridge and eggs for a day's traditional hunting with the men. Track, stalk and hopefully hunt down some wild quarry using traditional bows and arrows. 

A picnic on the way under a shady tree enables one to be flexible and react fast to the day's events. 

Back to camp for an early dinner so we can return to the village for a trance dance. This is a deeply spiritual experience for the Bushmen people. It is a great privilege for our Guests to have the opportunity to be able to observe the mysterious passage of the healer into a state of semi-conscious where he can make contact with their spirit Guides. The aim of the trance is to provide both healing and also to clear the air of conflict and tension. The women sit bolt upright clapping and singing into the early hours while the men tirelessly dance a well-worn groove into the earth circle formed by their tracks. 

Day 5: Bid the community farewell and drive by vehicle to the airstrip and depart by light aircraft to your next destination. 
 

During the dry season, travel across the salt pans is possible on 4 wheel drive "quad bikes" which avoid the problem of scarring the Pan's crust and sinking into the semi-hard mud beneath.  Kubu (properly, Khubung) is a granite extrusion covered with baobabs, forming an island in the south-west corner of Sua Pan. The trip across the pans to Kubu Island includes an ancient defense fortification that was only recently discovered.  On Kubu Island there is a semi-circular stone wall, 350 m in circumference. The wall has an entrances and apertures. There is no trace of habitation within its compass and this suggests that it may have been used once for a place of initiation rites. Such traditional Bantu places are remote and often difficult to access.  The first two nights are spent at Jacks Camp exploring the Kalahari Desert. The third morning the tour group departs on quad bikes across the Pans for Kubu Island, and two days and two nights are spent exploring the pans. The fifth night is spent back in Jacks Camp.

Sleeping in the open air   Setup for dinner

This safari is offered on an ad hoc basis for groups of 4 or more.  For the two nights out on the Pans guests sleep under the stars in bedrolls [there are no animals out here] attended to by a camp staff who will provide steaming bucket showers and three course, five star meals.

The Kubu trips are also designed to back onto Uncharted Africa Safari Co set date departures in the Delta

Five nights in the Makgadikgadi Pans including a Quad bike trip to Kubu Island

Day 1

Fly into Jack’s or San Camp for the first night of your Kubu Island adventure.

Travel out through the grasslands by game drive vehicle to the den of the rare brown hyena. These specialised desert animals are uniquely adapted to survive within the Kalahari eco-system and are Africa’s most rarely seen large carnivore.  Due to PhD Research projects, the hyena and cubs have become habituated to our vehicles and offer a very special game viewing opportunity.

Day 2

Drive out at sunrise into the Makgadikgadi National Park learning how the Kalahari Desert was formed as well as how the unique desert species are adapted to living in this sometimes extremely harsh environment. These activities are conducted in luxuriously appointed customized landcruisers, or on foot with a Bushman tracker.

In the evening, drive to the Seven Sisters Baobab. This is reputedly the largest tree in Africa and is comprised of seven trunks. However, more interesting even than the size of the tree is the fact that the early explorers, Livingstone, Baines and Selous used the baobab as a beacon by which to guide them across the pans. The Explorers then camped at the base of the tree exchanging stories and warnings about unfriendly tribes in the area and hunting expeditions. The names and dates of these historical expeditions have been carved into the tree and provide a fascinating insight into the modern history of Africa, seldom a possibility on safari.

Day 3-4

At dawn, set off on the quad bikes across the main pan en-route to Kubu Island. The journey to and from Kubu is extremely interesting as it includes a very ancient defence fortification which was only discovered a couple of years ago. The next two days/two nights are spent staying on Kubu Island and exploring the surrounding area. 

Kubu itself, a granite extrusion island studded with baobabs, is of course one of the most graphically beautiful spots in Botswana and is full of intriguing detail, such as walling, trade and bushman beads. It is also close to what is probably the biggest greater and lesser flamingo breeding site in the world.

30 000 flamingo fledge there when water is good and although the mud mound nests are deserted at the times of the year when we are able to visit Kubu, they are still very interesting to visit. Many chicks are left to die if they hatch too late to be able to join the incredible march across the Pans that the young flamingos undertake in search of water. Their remains lie on the pan surface almost petrified by the salt. Unhatched eggs also remain in some of the thousands of abandoned nests...

Guests also visit the extinct mouth of the Zambezi which together with various other rivers, once flowed into the Pans. The remaining beach is covered with beautiful water-worn pebbles amongst which you can find semi-precious stones such as garnets and cornelians.

Accommodation is in canvas bedrolls, which are laid out under the stars. There are no dangerous animals as such and as the Makgadikgadi is one of the most perfect places to stargaze, a starry sky makes the perfect ceiling! Hot showers and a long-drop loo are provided, and delicious meals are served on damask tablecloths set with bone-handled silver as in Jack’s or San Camp.

Day 5

On the morning of their last day, the Guests depart from Kubu once more setting off across the Pans on the quad bikes, ending the experience with a night of sheer comfort in either Jack’s or San Camp.

The most important aspect of these trips is that it gives the Guests a chance to truly understand the Pans, how they were formed as well as the history, both 'recent' ie. Livingstone etc as well as Stone Age... The Guests experience a sense of true adventure, active involvement as well as the sense of space that can only be felt upon reaching your destination after driving across white pans with absolutely nothing else in sight for several hours! The Pans are the size of Switzerland, a fact that is difficult for many to comprehend... this trip goes some way towards explaining the many mysteries of this fascinating and still very much unknown area.