Botswana Safaris

Region:

Central Kalahari Area

Highlights:

This Bushman safari offers you an opportunity to learn about fascinating Bushman culture as well as how they manage their hunting and gathering to sustainably utilise their wildlife environment.
The Bushman people themselves in conjunction with Uncharted Africa Safari Company offers a fascinating insight into their unique way of life, now almost extinct.

Day: 1, 2 & 3

Fly into Jack’s Camp. Jack’s Camp is a permanent camp, offering the chance to explore and understand the Makgadikgadi region of the Kalahari. Situated behind the camp are the huge salt pans of the Makgadikgadi. The camp has been completely refurbished in a traditional East African 1940s safari style – classically styled tents with private showers and flush loos are set into a palm grove. This is a complete desert experience focusing on species unique to the area such as Gemsbok, Brown Hyena and Springbok, as well as the geology and archaeology of the Kalahari.
Activities during the wet season include game drives in open 4×4 vehicles custom designed for the terrain to experience the enormous herds of the annual Zebra and Wildebeest migration.. Bird walks to observe migratory waterfowl (flamingos, storks, Wattled crane, ducks, terns, etc.) Depending on the amount of recent rainfall, you will have usage of 4WD quad bikes and vehicles on the salt pans.
Night drives to view migration and unique desert wildlife, Game walks with Bushman trackers to observe the desert wildlife, a visit to the historic Baobab Trees.
The dry season allows extensive use of the quad bikes out on the pans.

Day: 4

Arrive by plane at midday and transfer to a remote campsite deep in the ancestral gathering lands of the Zu/’hoasi Bushmen. The camp site comprises traditional style Bushman grass shelters designed to provide an authentic and non-intrusive interaction. You sleep on proper beds between pure cotton sheets and old-fashioned army blankets and duvets. Bucket showers and long-drop loos are private and situated adjacent to each shelter. (Should you prefer tented accommodation, this is also available.)
After a delicious tea, walk through the bush to the nearby Bushmen village where you will be met in a traditional manner by the elders of the community. Around the fire before dinner, listen to the history of the Bushmen people whose origins can be traced back to 30 000 years ago and learn about the complex political challenges that are confronting them today. Enjoy dinner under the stars.

Day: 5

In the morning, you will walk out into the bush with the men, women, children and your Guides. Guiding is undertaken by PhD Researcher Guides who have guided in the Kalahari for no less than three years in consultation with Community leaders to ensure a unique experience that combines both culture and wildlife in a sensitive and dignified fashion. The focus of the walk will be to provide a introduction to the Kalahari and Bushmen way of life. Your Guide will point out the distinct ecological characteristics of this area and its animal and bird species.
Spontaneous gathering and discussions about the uses of plants and wildlife by your Bushmen Guides provide the link between culture and wild environment.
After lunch and a siesta, return to the Bushmen village where you will 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. Some of the women will show you how they make beads from ostrich eggs and the striking jewellery that they make from porcupine quills, seeds and ostrich eggs. Leather is also decorated with both glass and ostrich beads. As the sun sets and the evening draws close, the women can be requested to perform the melon dance, around the evening fire. This unselfconscious and free-spirited traditional dance represents the joyful celebration of a successful harvest.
Return to camp for a rather more conventional, but still delicious, meal and retire to bed.

Day: 6

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, leaves and branches for the manufacture of rope, bows and arrows.
Return to camp for a lunch and siesta. After tea, return to the Bushmen village. Watch the men prepare bows, arrows and quivers while young boys demonstrate various traditional games that provide training for the hand-to eye co-ordination skills that will be so necessary when on the hunt.
Retire to bed in excited anticipation of the next day’s hunt.

Day: 7

Depart early after a hearty cooked breakfast 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.
Return to camp hopefully bearing the results of a day’s hunt and prepare the meat to share and sample around the fire.
Retire to the camp for dinner and to bed.

Day: 8

Bid the community farewell and drive by vehicle to the airstrip to meet up with your light aircraft transfer for your onward journey

Notes/Other:

Please Note: This itinerary is an example only, and can be tailor-made to suit your personal requirements. We can combine this proposed itinerary with other camps in Botswana. Accordingly, no price is indicated, as this will depend upon a number of factors, such as your routing and duration of stay.