Kwando Safaris opened their new Tau Pan Camp as scheduled on March 1st. There are now only two permanent camps within the enormous Central Kalahari Game Reserve and it makes this area easily reachable for a fly-in visit combined with more traditional Botswana Safari locations. It is one of the more affordable camps in Botswana and is included in the 5 Rivers Special making it an exceptional value during the Kalahari’s peak wildlife concentrations of roughly December to April.
The Kalahari is unique as it is a rare place where the rains actually attract mass quantities of animals, especially springbok and oryx (gemsbok), instead of dispersing them. The creates a rare opportunity to have the best game viewing while prices are at their lowest. These concentrations of grazers act as a magnet to draw in predators too, especially lions and cheetah. No doubt I have a bias since my predator research efforts focus on the Kalahari but to me it is a spectacular wilderness and full of surprising wildlife if you visit at the right time.
As the guides and trackers were finishing training in the week prior to opening they were seeing lion, cheetah, and leopard almost daily and witnessed three kills. A surprise sighting was finding a pack of 10 wild dogs that had just made a kill of an oryx at Tau Pan down below the camp. We will have our first client visit in about 10 days and will be excited to report back on her experience. I fully anticipate this camp being one of my strongest green season recommendations for 2010.
I am very pleased to have pictures of the new camp to share here:
Central Camp Lounge Area
Big Kalahari Views From the Central Lounge Deck
Tau Pan Camp Central Lounge Seating Area
Aerial View of Tau Pan Camp
The Chalets
Tau Pan Camp Guest Chalet
Interior of Tau Pan Camp Guest Chalet
Bushmen Conduct Cultural/Interpretive Walks
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