Great Plains, the tourism conservation organisation founded by National Geographic filmmaker-explorers Dereck and Beverly Joubert, is delighted to share news at their Explorer-Collection camps across Botswana and Kenya for travellers seeking an African safari adventure. The four camps are the ultimate choice for adventurers looking to embark on the safari expedition of a lifetime, with a host of activities and offerings.
Great Plains’ Explorer- Collection camps – Duba Explorers, Okavango Explorers and Selinda Explorers in Botswana and Kenya’s Mara Expedition Camp – offer the quintessential tented safari experience. Here, guests can sleep under canvas tented camps as they listen to the sounds of the bush all around, just like the explorers of yesteryear.
KENYA
Mara Expedition Camp
Mara Expedition Camp, located on private land adjoining the Olare Motorogi Conservancy and the Maasai Mara National Reserve, offers the quintessential Kenyan safari experience. Here, guests can bed down in one of the camp’s luxurious tented accommodations and enjoy a unique swimming pool on the back of a 1950’s Hanomag truck.
The camp has a host of activities and experiences, from cycling safaris on the sprawling plains with an expert guide to ‘mobile bubble baths’, allowing guests to soak up the endless views of the Mara from the sanctuary of their private deck.
A camp highlight is the singing kitchen experience, where guests can sit back, watch and learn as the talented singing chefs whip up a gourmet tasting menu with expert wine pairings from the specially built interactive kitchen. Combining international dishes with local touches, the team will talk through the process of creating each delicious dish, tailoring recipes to the individual’s liking as they enjoy traditional Maasai songs and dancing.
Guests looking to keep fit on safari will delight in the opportunity to run through the plains, accompanied by a guide who will point out unique flora, fauna and species along the way.
For a spa experience like no other, guests can experience Great Plains’ signature ‘Wellness in the Wild’ treatment menu, in Mara Expedition Camp’s private garden. The latest spa menu offers a range of pampering rituals harnessing the power of Healing Earth products as well as home-grown botanicals from the camp’s very own kitchen garden.
Sundowners by the dam await guests wishing to swap stories of their expedition, while the youngest in the brood can live out their adventurer dreams with Great Plains’ Young Explorer programme. Alongside safari drives, lessons in animal tracking and ‘little bug safaris’, little ones age 6 and up can truly immerse themselves in Kenyan culture and history, with the chance to meet the famous Maasai warriors and can even ‘join the tribe’ by dressing up in their very own colourful mini-Maasai shuka, included in all Young Explorer packs. Crafting opportunities include bow and arrow-making and target practice, to learning how to make traditional Kenyan meals with Great Plains’ award-winning chefs.
BOTSWANA
Duba Explorers Camp
Duba Explorers Camp is the ultimate choice for aquatic adventurers looking to explore the beauty of Botswana’s Okavango Delta. The Great Plains Explorer-Collection safari camp is tucked away on an island in the northeast corner of Botswana’s Duba Concession, an 81,500-acre private reserve. Due to its location in the Okavango Delta’s northern reaches, the permanent floodplain dominates the surrounding landscapes, with camp guests enjoying unobstructed views across the surrounding water channels -where water-based adventures await.
The camp offers guests the chance to drift along the channels of the Okavango Delta in a mokoro, a traditional Botswana canoe. Here, they can sit back and let their expert safari guide inform them about which species they are seeing, such as jacana birds delicately walking over the lily pads or the exotic insects and colourful dragonflies resting on water lilies. The highly trained Great Plains safari guides gracefully punt the mokoro using a long wooden pole, so guests can relax and truly immerse themselves in Botswana’s natural beauty.
From the mokoro, guests can witness the occasional hippo or crocodile swimming in the distance and try to identify the amazing Botswana birdlife, such as the carmine bee-eater. An exciting option is to stop and explore a remote, deserted island – many of which have never had a human set foot upon them until now – and seeing wildlife and birdlife on foot. Guides can then arrange a sit-down lunch at safe location in a flowing river or a well-deserved sundowner next to a campfire, the perfect way to reflect on an incredible day.
The unique camp highlight at Duba Explorers Camp is the one-of-a-kind pool, which has been constructed on the back of an overland 6-wheel-drive campaign military truck – where guests can also enjoy a private dining experience. Additional activities include safari drives and walking safaris as well as boating excursions, depending on water levels. The camp is truly the perfect spot to cool down after a day spent exploring like the adventurers of yesteryear!
Okavango Explorers Camp
Okavango Explorers Camp is an Explorer-Collection safari camp located in the 321,000-acre private Selinda Reserve. The camp’s location is a unique combination of two iconic ecosystems at the intersection of the upper Okavango Delta water system and the famed Selinda Spillway. This area may be new to guests but has been known to Great Plains for many years as one teeming with wildlife, with lion, leopard and painted dogs, which hunt these parts regularly.
Endless adventure awaits at Okavango Explorers, where guests can enjoy canoeing safaris along the iconic Selinda Spillway. Wildlife viewing can also be done from Great Plains’ specially adapted vehicles or by foot, with one of the camp’s expert guides. Come evening, explorers can swap stories of the day’s adventure with a waterside sundowner, before retreating to a private in-room dining experience or an interactive fireside dinner in camp.
Okavango Explorers Camp sleeps a maximum of 12 guests sharing and recreates a safari experience reminiscent of exploring the unknown African hinterland in a 1920’s style. The camp exudes a spirit of the romance of days gone by whilst ensuring that adventure and discovery are an essential part of the journey. This camp is ideal for friends or families wanting to take the whole camp for extended stays and to make it their own, and for combining with fellow Explorer-Collection safari camps, Selinda Explorers and Duba Explorers Camps.
Selinda Explorers Camp
At Selinda Explorers Camp, guests will be transported back to the time of authentic safaris while enjoying all the modern luxuries and hospitality for which Great Plains is renowned. Located in the 321,000-acre Selinda Reserve of northern Botswana, it is built on the banks of the Selinda Spillway and can accommodate up to 10 guests across 4 tents including a 2-bedroom family tent.
Wildlife spotting opportunities abound in the Selinda Reserve, which has been documented to hold up to 9,000 elephants at the peak of the dry season in late September. Keen birdwatchers will delight in the chance to spot ‘lifers’ along the Spillway’s banks, home to a phenomenal array of bird life. Afternoons can be spent under the canopy of African ebony and Mopane trees, interspersed with guided walks and early morning and late afternoon/early evening safari drives. Canoeing along the Selinda Spillway may also be possible based on water levels.
When it comes to dining, guests of Selinda Explorers will be spoilt for choice, with the option to dine by chandelier candlelight under the stars or enjoy a bespoke tasting menu in the privacy of their own tented suite. For a start to the day to remember, explorers can opt for a bush breakfast, where chefs will set up a dining table in the Botswana wilderness and cook up a brunch feast like no other!
The camp’s focal point is the Bedouin-style main area with a lounge, separate dining room and swimming pool just off the main area where wildlife frequently walks by. The three guest tents and 2-bedroom family tent provide comfort and style but with a magnificently raw spirit. Subtly placed under the shade of the riverine forest, the camp is designed in the style of the early explorers, both in philosophy and practice.
