5 NIGHTS DELTA, 3 NIGHTS JACK’S, 4 NIGHTS BUSHMEN Code UN AF

Please take this as a sampling of what could be on offer... and the style in which it would be done. The schedule and the descriptions of the island sleep out are all logistically correct.

GAME & WATER… 5 nights in the Moremi Game Reserve and Okavango Delta

Day 1: Guests are met by their Guide and private vehicle at Maun airport and transferred by road into the Moremi Game Reserve. Once in the Moremi a slow meander/game drive to familiarise ourselves with the area and then into our first camp in good time to shower and unpack before sundowners and dinner.

Camp will be comprised of large tents equipped in a luxurious fashion unequalled on any mobile safari that we know of. Real beds, down pillows, pure cotton sheets, bone-handled silver cutlery, damask table linen and wood and brass custom-designed furniture. The only concessions to roughing it are the bucket showers and long-drop loos, which are private and en suite. These are attached to your tents for safety purposes but are still open air.

Day 2: Breakfast in the first light of day and out in the trucks for the whole day. The Staff will load up a full lunch and picnic gear and the fridges will be packed. Head out to explore the wider area around our first camp. Search out the creatures and plants typical of each ecosystem and explore the interrelationships of both the species and the systems. Seek out the elusive predators and observe and interpret their behaviour.

For the mobile safaris, we deploy only the most experienced and well qualified of the company’s crack corps of Guides – handpicked and hand- trained by our dearly beloved leader, the semi-star of the famed Discovery Channel series, Ralph Bousfield. Our Guides carry framed diplomas at all times, proof of their degrees in the biological sciences and are often undertaking postgraduate research projects in the areas that Guests will visit. They are knowledgeable and, only occasionally pompous or boring.

Picnic and siesta under a shady mangosteen.

Head out after another embarrassingly large spread of tea and cakes. Park at the edge of a water holes/lagoon and set off by mekoro, the traditional canoe used by the water Bushmen of Ngamiland to acess the hidden nooks and crannies of the Okavango. Watch herds of elephants and a myriad of birds coming down to drink whilst the sun sets.

Return for dinner.

Food on our Safari is renowned throughout the industry for its fresh tastes and original versions of classic dishes. Three course meals under the stars include such treats as ostrich, roast Botswana beef, delectable fresh fruit tarts and chocolate éclairs. Teas are indulgent affairs including double chocolate cake, lemon poppy-seed muffins etc. All bread is baked daily on the coals in trunk ovens. Full cooked English breakfasts are on offer every day.

Day 3: Pack the trucks and a trailer with the overnight equipment for a fly camp. Mosquito net tents, folding stools, food, bedrolls, lanterns, bucket showers, long-drop loos etc. etc. Take a slow drive to the lagoon's edge and board the boats to explore the waters of the delta. Putt along the maze of channels stopping to admire the fantastic bird life and diversity of aquatic life. Learn about the ecology of the waters and look at the important components of the ecosystems.

Arrive at our island camp, deep in the lagoon systems, just after sunset to shower and relax around the fire before dinner.

Guests sleep on bedrolls with individual mosquito net tents so that they can see the stars. Loo tents and bucket showers are supplied and Waiters and Chefs are there to supply your every need.

Day 4: Rise early and hop back into the boats. Meander back through the waterways absorbing the tranquillity and immersing yourself completely in the incredible spectacles the delta has to offer. Leave the boats and return to your vehicles waiting at the boat station.

If you want to watch lions mating for two hours or prefer to watch bee-eaters hawking insects on the wing then so be it. Picnic and siesta in the arms of a giant baobab and spend the afternoon seeking out hyaena dens and as the day cools down watch for hunting cats. Return to your new camp tired-but-happy once again.

Day 5: All day predator hunt. Spend the last day indulging yourself completely in seeking your favourite species. Leopard spotting, lion tracking, cheetah chasing and dog discovering.

Day 6: Say your farewells to the camp staff (not too upsetting as you’ll be seeing them in a few days in the Western Kalahari) and fly on to Jack’s Camp, for your unique desert experience. Africa’s last Eden

Botswana is home to 100,000 Elephants

SAND & STARS… 3 nights in the Makgadikgadi Pans and Kalahari Desert

Arrive at Jack’s Camp, surely one of the most romantic camps in Africa... Classic tents hug the edge of the endless salt pans of the Makgadikgadi each shaded by a dignified cluster of desert palms.

Drive out after tea through the golden grasslands to the edge of the pans. Stop to watch the sunset and listen to an explanation of how the Makgadikgadi pans were formed, the remnants of the worlds largest ever superlake...

Return to camp for a lavish dinner in the elegant mess tent.

Day 7: Set off in the morning to visit some of the Kalahari’s sexiest meerkats (part of a new research project based out of Jack's Camp). Get uniquely up close and personal with these fascinating creatures. (On chilly mornings you might find a meerkat snuggling up to you for warmth or in the absence of a termite mound or tree, maybe even using your shoulder as a look-out post). By spending quality time with these incredibly social, superbly adapted animals and being able to see how they interact with each other and their environment you get the chance to see the desert through the eyes of a meerkat – which, despite the fact that it's only a foot off the ground, is a pretty spectacular vantage point and definitely one of the most special and memorable game experiences that you will have on your safari.

After a picnic lunch, visit to one of the remote traditional cattle posts to learn about the traditional culture of the Batswana. Close by, is the famous seven sisters Baobab which is supposedly the biggest tree in Africa and also was the camp site of Livingstone and Selous when they pioneered the area. This gives the Guests an opportunity to gain a fascinating insight into the history of the early explorers.

Return to camp for a rest. After tea, travel down to the pans where you will be given a brief safety talk and mount your trusty quad bikes to head off across the pans, watch the sun set and the stars rise. This is one of the only places where you will be able to hear not one sound except for that of your own blood circulating through your ears...! There is not one visual benchmark to be seen and one swiftly loses one's sense of perspective. 16 000 square kilometres of baking soda void and you are the only people in it!

Day 8: Early in the morning, comb the edge of the extinct lake shore to find some of the many stone tools that litter the pan surface and learn of the origins of early man. Return to camp for a huge brunch and siesta the midday away.

After another decadent tea, head off in the beautiful evening light to see Africa's most rarely seen carnivore – the brown hyaena. Due to a PhD research programme on this wonderful, desert adapted species, the cubs are habituated and allow us to observe their social behaviour without disturbance.

Back to camp for a scrumptious dinner by candlelight.

Day 9: Spend the morning walking with Zu/’hoasi Bushmen trackers.

Jack's Camp has pioneered and passionately supported cultural tourism in Botswana since the company's inception 13 years ago as it has long been our belief that it is a vitally important tool in terms of preserving this unique but sadly, vanishing culture. We have been working closely with the Zu/’hoasi people of the Western Kalahari for many years and are privileged to have a small group of these extraordinary men to guide our guests on a morning's walking safari from Jack's Camp. A walk with these fascinating people is a window into the past – they teach us how they have survived in this harshest of environments, using their incredible tracking and hunting skills, knowledge of medicinal plants, ability to find food and water in the desert and make a fire with nothing but sticks. A walk with a Bushmen guide provides a wonderful insight as to how culture and nature can co-incide and when supplemented with the huge knowledge and enthusiasm of our graduate zoologists / biologists Guides, provides an exceptionally holistic and fulfilling guiding experience.

Depart for your private camp in the Western Kalahari.

Elegant, stylish and comfortable

The largest tree in Africa

LOINCLOTHS & BEETLES… Four nights with the Bushmen in a remote settlement in the Western Kalahari

For the first time ever, an incredible opportunity to experience a dignified and sensitive Bushman safari.

For many years, it has not been possible to offer a genuine non- patronising Bushman experience due to the threat of exploitation. Now, the Bushman people themselves in conjunction with UNCHARTED AFRICA SAFARI CO offer a fascinating insight into their unique way of life, now almost extinct.

Guests will be flown into the nearest Airstrip and transferred by a land cruiser to the mobile camp site.

The camp site will be comprised of traditional style Bushmen grass shelters designed to provide an authentic and non-intrusive interaction. Guests will sleep on proper beds between pure cotton sheets and old- fashioned army blankets and duvets as at Jack's and San Camp. Wooden ladder shelves for hanging and stacking clothing and a wooden trunk for a bedside table will provide space for storage. Bucket showers and long drop loos will be private and situated adjacent to each shelter.

Food will be of a similar style and standard to Jack's and San Camp. Guiding will be by Phd Researcher Guides who have guided in the Kalahari for no less than three years in consultation with Community leaders to ensure a unique experience that combines both culture and wildlife in a sensitive and dignified fashion.

Day 9: Arrive by plane at midday where you shall be met at the airstrip and transferred to a remote campsite deep in the ancestral gathering lands of the Zu/’hoasi Bushmen. Settle into your traditional grass hut replete with proper bed, feather bedding and all the accoutrements of a proper safari. Partake of a fresh and tasty lunch under the shade of a grass shelter and retire for a peaceful siesta in your hut to recover from your journey. After a delicious tea, walk through the bush to the nearby Bushman village where you will be met in a traditional manner by the elders of the Zu/’hoasi community. Around the fire before dinner, listen to the history of the Bushmen people from their origins to the complex political challenges that are confronting them today. Sleep peacefully through the night under a fragrant shelter of wild grass thatch.

Day 10: In the morning, walk out into the bush with the men, women, children and your Guides. The focus of the walk will be to provide a gentle introduction to the Kalahari and Bushmen way of life. Your Guide will point out the distinct ecological characteristics of this area and it's animal and bird species. Spontaneous gathering and discussions about the uses of plants and wildlife by your Bushmen Guides provide the link between culture and wild environment that we seek to offer our Guests on these very special safaris.

An adolescent Bushman girl knows more than 200 species of usable plants. An extraordinary variety of plants and herbs with both culinary and medicinal value will be found.

Find suitable rhygozum plants from which your digging stick, the most important tool of the Bushmen can be harvested. Return to the Bushmen village and prepare your gathering tool by the fire for the next few days. Return to camp for lunch and a siesta. Return to the Bushman village where you will learn from the women how to prepare the bushfoods using only the most basic of tools and an open fire. You will be able to sample a variety of foods from wild spinach and roast beetles to ostrich egg omelette cooked on the coals. Some of the women will show us 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 decorated with both glass and ostrich beads to complex and beautiful effect. The women can be requested to do the melon dance, a joyful expression that celebrates a successful harvest. Return to camp for a rather more conventional but still delicious meal and retire to bed.

Day 11: After a restful night's sleep, meet the men after breakfast to prepare for a traditional hunt. Walk into the bush and search out the poison grub beetle, gathering suitable roots, sanseveria leaves and branches for the manufacture of rope, bows and arrows. Return to camp for a lunch and siesta. Return to the Bushmen village to watch the men prepare bows, arrows and quivers. Young boys may also demonstrate various traditional games that provide training for the hand-to-eye co-ordination skills that will be so necessary when on the hunt.

Day 12: Depart early after a hearty breakfast of porridge and eggs for a day's traditional hunting with the men. Track, stalk and hopefully hunt down some wild quarry using traditional bows and arrows. A picnic on the way under a shady tree enables one to be flexible and react fast to the day's events. Return to camp hopefully bearing the results of a day’s hunt and prepare the meat to share and sample around the fire. Retire to the camp for dinner and to bed early after the day's hunt.

Day 13: Bid the community farewell and drive by vehicle to the airstrip and set off to Maun for your journey homewards.

Sleep in traditional grass huts

Other Options for your time at Xai Xai:

Trance and Traditional Healing

Meet the traditional healer by the morning fire and walk out into the bush searching for ancient traditional remedies and cures still in use today. Return to camp for lunch and a siesta. After tea, meet the traditional healer and the women at the fire in the village to prepare and administer the medicines. Back to camp for an early dinner so we can return to the village for a trance dance. This is a deeply spiritual experience for the Bushmen people. It is a great privilege for our Guests to have the opportunity to be able to observe the mysterious passage of the healer into a state of semi-consciousness where he can make contact with their spirit Guides. The aim of the trance is to provide both healing and also to clear the air of conflict and tension. The woman sit bolt upright clapping and singing into the early hours while the men tirelessly dance a well-worn groove into the earth circle formed by their tracks.

Caving in subterranean caverns...

After breakfast, depart by gamedrive vehicle to Drotsky's Caves. The journey to the caves will provide a different and more wildlife orientated experience to that of the past few days. An incredible variety of wild birds have been sighted along the road along with leopard, gemsbuck, hartebeest, eland, steenbuck, jackal, kudu and many other animal species. After a sumptuous picnic set off on a subterranean expedition into a series of incredible marble caverns. These caves are completely uncommercialised and are carpeted with a floor or twinkling red Kalahari sand. The soaring ceilings are festooned with swags of stalactites and huge colonies of bats. Enormous stalagmites create rooms within rooms as you follow a string trail by torchlight through one more magnificent space into another to emerge into the daylight somewhat dazed an hour or two later. Return to the camp by gamedrive vehicle for a farewell feast.