jack’s camp

Jack’s Camp underwent a full rebuild and reopened in 2021.

The brand-new Jack’s Camp pays homage to the property’s enduring and much-loved 1940s campaign style.

The guest tents, seven twins and two doubles are much larger, and each is 270 square meters in size. The iconic interiors remain and are embellished with rich textiles from around the world, Natural History Museum cabinets, and an overhead bed cooling system.

Ensuite bathrooms have both indoor and outdoor showers and outside, each veranda has a private plunge pool.

The new, larger mess tent is resplendent with the renowned Natural History Museum, library, antique pool table, and a well-stocked drinks chest.

The iconic nomadic Persian tea tent has been made larger and the shop has been renovated and restocked with new treasures.

Come and see what makes Jack’s Camp a truly legendary Kalahari safari camp.

Accommodation at Jack’s Camp Botswana:

The new Jack’s pays homage to the much-loved 1940s campaign style of the existing camp.

Adorned with a classic East African safari feel, the nine guest rooms, 7 twin tents featuring two queen-size beds, and 2 double tents with extra-length king beds, have almost doubled in size.

While the iconic green canvas and muslin-draped walls remain, each tent is embellished with Persian and North African rugs, paraffin lamps, brass fittings, luxuriant textiles, and mahogany campaign furniture.

There is a comfortable living area, with a sofa and day bed for expansive views of the Kalahari.

You’ll discover Natural History Museum cabinets curated by Ralph Bousfield himself, an overhead bed cooling system to ward off the desert heat, and an en-suite bathroom with indoor and outdoor showers.

Outside, each veranda has a private deck with a sparkling plunge pool as well as several velvet-clad chairs overlooking the glittering ancient landscape.

The new, larger mess tent still houses the renowned Natural History Museum, library, vintage 36-seater dining table that served as an officer’s mess table in the 1820s, well-stocked drinks cabinet, and antique pool table.

The iconic, nomadic Persian tea tent remains, now a little larger.

Framed Peter Beard pictures sit alongside original posters from French taxidermist Deyrolle, both complemented by Bousfield family photos.

The swimming pool pavilion is still the only one in Africa.

When to Visit Jack’s Camp:

Jack’s Camp is a year-round destination, yet the two seasons couldn’t be more different.

The dry season, from April to October, is the desert as you know it: a shimmering whiteness envelops the scorched landscape, like a mirage floating over the crusted salt, and you’ll spot nomadic herds in the distance as if an illusion.

This is the time of year for whizzing across the pans on the back of a quad bike, sleeping under the stars, and enjoying the pans in their most iconic state.

When the rains fall in November, the Makgadikgadi Pans are transformed.

It’s a time of plenty (even in the desert), and the salt flats are turned into watery grasslands, almost unrecognisable from the previous months.

A layer of emerald-green grass stretches out in every direction, pink clouds of flamingos and flocks of migratory birds arrive to nest, and Africa’s second-largest mammal migration of wildebeest and our black and white striped friends floods the plains.

The green season in the desert is one of Africa’s, great unpredictable spectacles, and a magical time to visit.

Rain transforms everything, turning the pans into lush grasslands from November onwards.

Animals are on the move and the desert becomes a green oasis teeming with life, notably thousands of zebras and blue wildebeest that feast on the sweet summer grasses.

The safari activities are similar in these months although you usually won’t travel as far; on many days you can see the wildlife direct from your veranda.

This green season continues until mid-April and corresponds with the off-season for tourism in Botswana, making it a slightly cheaper time to travel.

Activities at Jack’s Camp:

One of the most original and exciting camps in Africa, the safari experience at Jack’s is unique.

Here the living desert is constantly full of surprises.

At first sight, the lunar-like salt pans appear devoid of life, but in the hands of the of knowledgeable camp guides the story of the Makgadikgadi begins to unfold.

Throughout your stay, you will find an impressive choice of extraordinary activities and desert culture experiences to enjoy in and around camp.

The Landscape at Jack’s Camp:

Jack’s Camp is in Botswana’s Makgadikgadi Salt Pans, the remnants of an enormous super-lake that used to cover most of Southern Africa.

Jack Bousfield himself described the area as the “savage beauty of a forgotten Africa”, and truly, the Makgadikgadi is like nowhere on earth.

It’s a landscape of space and remoteness, and the spectacular, otherworldly vistas, unique desert wildlife, and old-world glamour of Jack’s Camp all come together to create an experience that is unlike any other on the continent. 

The Wildlife at Jack’s Camp:

The desert is never a place of abundance.

But we’ve spent many years here (not quite as many as Jack, but a good number!) and it still surprises us.

The Makgadikgadi is full of elusive species and desert-adapted animals and the perfect complement to Botswana’s traditionally game-rich areas, like the Khwai Private Reserve and the Okavango Delta.

The brown hyena is a symbol of what’s to come in the Makgadikgadi.

There are only 8000 of these special hunters left in the world, and there aren’t many other places you’ll encounter one.

Other carnivores that know how to eke out their survival here include aardwolves and bat-eared foxes, honey badgers, and black-maned Kalahari lions.

Then there’s aardvark, gemsbok, springbok, and black-backed jackals to look out for on game drives, and perhaps even an elephant or two.

And last, but not least, the meerkats.

We’ve been busy pioneering a meerkat habituation project with some of the world’s pre-eminent researchers.

The cheeky creatures are still very wild, but they do enjoy coming to say hello.