Jacks Private Camp

a broad range of diverse and unusual experiences

Jacks Private Camp is located in the Makgadikgadi Pans area of central Botswana.

This property is an exclusive-use tented villa located next to Jacks Camp, the original facility in the area, an extremely upmarket and stylish permanent tented camp situated under palm trees on the northern side of the Ntwetwe Pan, part of the complex of vast salt flats that characterise the area.

One aspect which we always appreciate is the amount of animals which tend to come into camp. As well as smaller animals such as warthogs and springboks, guests have also reported sightings of porcupines, brown hyenas and bat-eared foxes wandering around.

Rooms

Guest accommodation at Jacks Private Camp is in one large tented villa with two suites straddling a lounge and dining area. The rooms contain a four-poster bed, with a floor-standing fan for ventilation. Beyond that a curtained doorway leads through to a large conventionally plumbed bathroom with basin, shower and a remarkable throne-like toilet. To the rear there is a further outside shower.

Activities

Jacks Private Camp provides the following guided activities …

• Vehicle safari
• Walking safari
• Quad-biking safari
• Horse-back safari
• Palaeontology
• Bushman walks
• Meerkat experience
• Brown hyena experience
• Historic baobab trees
• Night vehicle safari

When it comes to trip durations in Botswana, most visitors combine 2, 3 or 4 lodges by light aircraft over 6-12 nights, often in combination with further nights at the Victoria Falls and/or down in the Cape.

Longer trips may include a camp in one of the desert areas, such as here in Makgadikgadi, in order to provide variation and contrast.

Most guests choose to stay at one lodge in Makgadikgadi, usually for 3-4 nights.

Seasonality

The area has converse seasons to the main safari areas of the Okavango Delta and Linyanti Waterfront.

During the May-Nov dry season, safari is focused on the desert experiences including quad-biking onto the pans, Bushman and palaeontological walks, visits to a habituated meerkat colony and game-viewing focused on a widely dispersed population of real desert specialists.

During the May-Jun transition season, temperatures can drop towards freezing during the night.

During the Oct-Nov late dry season and early green season, temperatures and humidities can become uncomfortably high in advance of the rains.

The Dec-Apr green season means the desert experiences take something of a back seat, in favour of more intense wildlife viewing, as summer rain showers cause very impressive clustering of migratory wildlife in the area.

It is the Dec-Feb green season period which threatens the greatest chance of more prolonged cloud and rain.

Getting there

The camps in this area are usually accessed by light aircraft into one of two small airstrips.

There are daily flights to and from the main airport at Maun, for connections to camps throughout the Okavango Delta and Linyanti Waterfront areas, as well as long haul flights to Johannesburg.

It is also possible to access the camps by private road transfer from Maun, a journey of around 3-4 hours.

uncommonly worth visiting year round