Walk of Ancient Wisdom

Arrive at San Camp – surely one of the most romantic camps in Africa. Imagine a smattering of billowing white tents, shaded by desert palms and surrounded by a thousand acres of shimmering nothingness. San Camp offers a serene atmosphere and beautiful views of the endless Makgadikgadi Salt Pans.

Once settled in, join your guides Ralph and Aleksandra for afternoon tea in the tea tent. Ralph will explain the geological formation of Botswana and the salt pans to you, as well as the connection between the environment and how/why we have evolved. This will set the scene for the days ahead and all the secrets you will uncover walking with the San Bushmen in the magical Makgadikgadi Pans.

After an evening game drive with your two guides, return to camp for a lamp-lit dinner in the elegant mess tent. You’ll find antique display cases crammed with interesting collections of bones, pottery, stone tools and beadwork. After dinner spend a little time reading and relaxing in the small library section before bed time.

Today you start with an early breakfast and departure on the Bushmen walk. You will be joined by a San Bushmen family, including men, women and young children.

The purpose of the walk is not to cover long distances, but to go out and see and understand the environment through the eyes of the Bushmen who have been living in this environment for the past 35,000 years.

The group 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 their culture and this wild environment.

Arrival at fly camp. Time to relax and enjoy a delicious and refreshing lunch. Afternoon siesta amongst the gigantic palms of the Makgadikgadi grassland.

In the afternoon another walk will focus on the gathering of medicinal plants. Traditionally in the Bushmen community the women are the gatherers, while the men are in charge of the hunting. Return to the fly camp for dinner and drinks.

The main area of the fly camp is shaded with comfy cushions and rugs where guests can relax. Tonight you will sleep in mosquito net tents on bedrolls. The bathroom has a hot water bucket shower and a short drop loo.

After breakfast spend time with the Bushmen and watch the men prepare bows, arrows and quivers.

You may be introduced to traditional games that are a form of entertainment for families and also a way to develop hand-to-eye coordination.

Some of the women will show you how they make beads from ostrich eggs and the simple, but striking jewellery that they make from porcupine quills, seeds and ostrich eggs. Leather is also decorated with both glass and ostrich beads to complex and beautiful effect.

Time for lunch and siesta. In the afternoon walk toward the edges of the salt pans where guests will find the quad bike and, led by Ralph and Aleksandra will go on an exploration of the salt pans, watch the sun set and the stars rise.

This is one of the only places in the world where the silence is so complete you can hear the blood circulating through your ears. There is not one visual landmark to be seen and one swiftly loses one’s sense of perspective – 16,000 square kilometres of expansive ancient salt pans.

During the evening the Bushmen will gather around the fire to do a trance dance. The trance dance may include as many as 20 people including healers.

This is a deeply spiritual experience for the Bushmen. It is a great privilege to have the opportunity to observe the mysterious passage of the healer into a state of semi-consciousness (entirely induced by breathing technique), where he can make contact with his clan’s spirit guides.

The aim of the trance is to provide both healing and 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.

Dinner will be served either before or after the trance dance and guests will sleep at the fly camp in the salt pans: metal beds with bedrolls under the stars.

Early in the morning comb the edge of the extinct lakeshore to find some of the many stone tools and fossils that litter the pan surface and learn of the origins of early man. You’ll head back to Jack’s Camp in time for a delicious brunch. After some down time, enjoy a decadent high tea before heading off to enjoy a game drive in the reserve early afternoon.

Return back to camp for dinner and overnight. Jack’s Camp offers more space, unfathomable comfort for desert life, luxury fit for a maharaja and heaps of adventure. The main mess tent is where everyone meets for meals along a vintage 36-seater dining table, surrounded by a world of unimaginable style. Persian and North African rugs underfoot, cool cotton sheets and mahogany and brass campaign-style kit from the family safari stores form a striking contrast with the rugged wilderness viewed from the comfort of one’s own veranda.

ADD ON: If you’d like to charter a helicopter over the Pans to Kubu Island, this can be arranged today. You’ll visit this granite extrusion island, studded with baobabs, and one of the most graphically beautiful spots in Botswana. It is rich with intriguing detail, such as walling, trade and Bushmen beads brought here to barter in pursuit of the salt that ices the surrounding Pans. This place has been the holiest secret of the Kalahari Bushmen for longer than anyone knows, a place of power and ritual.

Today we head to the Makgadikgadi National Park to delve deeper into the secrets of this salt crusted lunar like landscape. Join your guides for breakfast before driving out in search of some unique desert species such as aardvark, bat eared foxes, aardwolves, and the elusive brown hyaena, which is the third rarest large carnivore in Africa, with only about 8,000 in the wild.

Return to camp for a relaxing afternoon. After tea in the tea tent (mouth-watering treats are a must), you’ll head off for an evening-turned-into-night game drive. With the aid of a spot light, look for nocturnal desert inhabitants such as aardvark, bat eared foxes, aardwolves, porcupine, honey badgers and perhaps even a black maned Kalahari Lion. You’ll arrive back in camp in time for your last dinner.

DAY 7: After breakfast we bid you farewell in preparation for your onward journey.