Elegant and impossibly romantic, San Camp’s classic white tents offer 360 degree views over the sparkling salt pans.
Take game drives and night drives in custom built 4x4s to see the unique desert wildlife, spend time with the cheeky meerkats, and join the Zu/’hoasi Bushmen on a bush walk.
Travel across the salt-crusted earth by quad-bike. The fact that you’ll travel at great speed, yet arrive nowhere underlines the true immensity of this remarkable area.
San Camp has a reputation for delicious and innovative cuisine – think fresh tomato tartlets, three-layer banana and caramel cake, and the best beef Wellington you’ve ever tried.
Lie out on the pans as the sun sets, and watch the planetarium of stars unfold.
Retreat to the yoga and meditation pavilion and absorb the compelling energy of your surroundings. This is the perfect spot to relax, unwind and retreat.
The real allure of San Camp is in its minimalism, and this extends to the surroundings. San sits at the edge of the mysterious Makgadikgadi Salt Pans (overlooking Nwetwe Pan to be precise), in the heart of the Kalahari Desert and adjoining the Makgadikgadi National Park.
The pans were once a super lake covering most of Botswana, and they shimmer seemingly never-ending all the way to the horizon, interrupted only by scattering of desert palms and baobabs.
The beautiful nothingness brings with it a cathartic sense of silence, and there is truly nowhere on else like this magical corner of Botswana.
CAMP STORY
A long time ago, there was a dream to create an oasis of civilisation in one of the world’s most bizarre landscapes. The dream wasn’t about conquering or taming, but rather about finding a way to connect with the pans. Memories should come from the excesses of nature, not from modern frills and furnishings. And, most importantly, the beautifully austere desert setting should be left just the way it was. The result of this dream? San Camp: the embodiment of timeless elegance and romantic style, and an uninterrupted window onto the shimmering pans.
San Camp wouldn’t (couldn’t!) have happened without the knowledge passed down by the local Zu/’hoasi Bushmen. Now part of the family at San, the bushmen will take you into the wild for a morning of culture, history and insight. And who could forget the wildlife. Without disturbing the ecosystems, owners have constructed artificial waterholes for the four-legged companions (the water comes from below the pans, team has just helped it emerge). Nothing is permanent and the camp can be completely dismantled, leaving Nwetwe almost exactly as it was before.
The hotel has already mentioned those beautiful, billowing tents, but what’s in store inside the canvas walls? Think enormous four-posters, draped in crisp cotton and feather-soft blankets, raised high above Persian rugs.
Mahogany writing desks and leather armchairs contrast the rugged surroundings, and there’s a lazy day bed just outside, perfect for an afternoon of view-gazing. Ensuite bathrooms have hot, running water showers and flush loos, and there’s plenty of water in the elegant copper jugs and basins. The entire camp runs on solar-power and when darkness falls, you’ll find lanterns scattered around to light the way.
At the main area, the open-sided pavilions are bright and breezy – and let that view do the talking! Gather in the splendid mess tent for a three-course feast, accompanied by white linen and crystal glasses, or sink into a cushion in the tea tent and treat yourself to one of the best brownies in the desert.
If you can drag your eyes away from the surroundings, take a peek at the natural history cabinets with their eclectic collections of old maps, fossils and artefacts, and then, it’s time to let your mind unwind in the sanctuary of the yoga pavilion. The hotel couldn’t think of a better place to end the day.
Give your mind a holiday and spend some time in the yoga and meditation pavilion.
San Camp’s great appeal is the nothingness, but that certainly doesn’t mean there’s nothing to see. You’ll find wildebeest and zebra roaming in straggled herds, standing out like sore thumbs against the pristine whiteness of the earth, and ostrich bobbing on the horizon.
Stay for a few days and there’s a good chance of spotting lion and elephant on a game drive, and even brown hyena, one of the continent’s most rare and elusive mammals that’s pretty much impossible to see anywhere else.
If you’re looking to tick a few species off your bird list, then sharpen your pencil for the pan is home to Kori bustards and northern black korhaan, chestnut-backed finch larks and capped wheatears.
And team couldn’t talk about the Makgadikgadi without mention of the meerkats. Team has worked with researchers to habituate a whole mob of them, and the cheeky fellows aren’t afraid to come and find out exactly who you are.
Take game drives and night drives in custom built 4x4s to see the unique desert wildlife.
Embark on an adventurous two-hour horseback safari (for all levels of riders; additional charge).
Witness the second largest migration of zebra and wildebeest in Africa (and it’s also the last remaining one in Southern Africa).
Feel the wind in your hair as you quad bike across the immense salt pans.
Lie out on the pans as the sun sets and watch the planetarium of stars unfold above you.
SAN CAMP
Kalahari DesertBotswana