🙂 Biggest pool in the Kalahari! Friendly staff! Great food and poolside bar. Excellent meerkat excursion.
🙁 Nothing negative to report.
Tuesday, 26 December – Wednesday 28 December 2022 – HOT! Elephant Sands to Planet Baobab 160Km / 2hours – 37C-40C
Plant Baobab is another MUST place visit on any itinerary in Botswana. You cannot miss the giant aardvark on the opposite side of the road to the entrance and the huge baobab with the Planet Baobab logo at the entrance as your signposts. (We had been due to drive to Kubu Island but had not received a response from the camp site to confirm that the road was accessible and we had been warned at Elephant Sands that people had got stuck so we decided not to take the risk and headed straight to Planet Baobab where I had booked an additional night as contingency for this exact scenario. As it happened I received Kubu’s reply on arrival when back on wi-fi to say that the road was fine – we were a bit disappointed but have something to look forward to for next time…).
The camp is rustic and quirky with a huge pool and comfortable areas for relaxation with plenty of shade beneath the baobab tree. The bar is huge with wine bottle chandeliers and cow hide seating and a big boma. We used the 4×4 camper facilities which were well spaced with braai areas, shade and clean ablutions. There are also 18 thatched huts taking inspiration from local Botswana villages. We enjoyed two lazy days enjoying the facilities as well as taking advantage of the meerkat excursion. Our campsite was No. 3. We had a mozzie in the tent – so remember to spray the tent with Doom before bed and to use insect repellent.
PS: We don’t usually play music in camp but no one else was around and it was the Festive season so nothing wrong with a little reggae for a little while 🙂
When it is dry season it is possible to take the quad bikes out and spend the night under the stars n the Makgadigadi Pan. Unfortunately for us this option was not available as it was ‘rainy season’ but we could book to be driven to the habituated meerkats on the edge of the pan. We were up at 04h30 and met for coffee at the bar at 04h45 and left at 05h00 and the drive was very scenic with many more beautiful baobabs dotted along the way. Typically we suffered a flat tyre – we are now so accustomed to this challenge that it took a mere 10mins to change and then we were soon on our way again!
The drive took about 1h30mins – the other vehicle had already arrived and the group were surrounded by industrious little meerkats going about their foraging completely oblivious to their presence. We joined in – very special. We spent about 30mins following the group and their minder who has spent every day with them for the last 12 years and gave us some interesting facts about this family (collective noun: Mob). The previous alpha female had died about a year ago and her daughter had since taken over as alpha female and was due to have her babies (referred to as pups or kittens) any day. A couple of days earlier a hawk had swooped overhead and they had all scattered, one unfortunate meerkat raced into a hole where a huge rock python swallow the unfortunate creature ion front of all the tourists!! The fact that we arrived a little late thanks to the puncture meant that the other group left before us so we had time on our own with the meerkats who came up close and personal! It was getting hot and they would soon be going back into their burrows… they lie flat on their tummies to cool down after digging a little deeper int cooler soil… one meerkat used Charlotte to stand on as a look out! I lay next to one who covered me with sand as he was digging…listening to their squeaky communication was adorable. Such a special experience. I will let the photos and video clips do the talking… you can see alpha mommy is about to have her babies and you can hear them chattering non stop 🙂
Once we had enjoyed our time with the meerkats our guide drove us on to the Pan so that we could appreciate the sheer vastness of this place. The Makgadikgadi Pans National Park is a salt pan – with an area of 3,900Km. Situated in the middle of the dry savanna of north-eastern Botswana. This was once a lake that covered an area larger than Switzerland, but dried up tens of thousands of years ago. In the dry months, they are a breath-taking sight of never-ending stretches of white salt as far as you can see and are home to desert adapted wildlife and meerkats. In the wet months, the rains fill the salt pan with water and turn it into an incredible shallow lake which attracts large numbers of zebra, springbok and wildebeest (the second largest migration after that in the Serengeti), as well as breeding flamingos. The vast, uninhabited spaces and nothingness provide an incredible atmosphere and make it somewhere you won’t forget. Desert adapted species such as aardwolf and brown hyena that are seldom seen elsewhere are numerous here, and the chances of coming across one during a night drive are high. Amazing and we will definitely be back in the dry season to spend the night…
We also took a diversion to catch a glimpse of the start of the annual great migration of zebra – second only in size to that of the Serengeti/Masai Mara migration … Team ‘BAE” W were quite shattered… 🙂
An absolutely brilliant stay. It was wonderful to escape from the intense heat in the cool swimming pool and we thoroughly enjoyed the lunches and cool drinks from the bar – Highly recommended!
Go Back to: Elephant Sands
Go to: Nxai Pans & Baines Baobab
