Reviews of Tau Pan Camp

"We slept one night under the stars on the Sky Deck, it gave us an unbeatable experience of Africa at night. The lions roared, the planets shone and there is no light pollution!

The ladies singing us to dinner was another terrific experience. Pro, the manager, was great to talk with and magnificent in retrieving an article of clothing left at Splash.

The wildlife seen was again a brilliant experience, getting up close to a large pride of lions cannot be bettered. On the last morning our first sighting of a leopard, drinking at the waterhole. Vasco and KP were attentive guides and ensured we recorded all the wildlife we saw in our booklets.

Saw lots of Kudu, a Hartebeest, Springboks and Kori Bustards. The 'making fire' experience with KP was really interesting.

The bird life was amazing." See all these reviews: 7n in Botswana; 2n in Zimbabwe

"A well established camp with the friendliest staff, guides and trackers who always had smiles on their faces. Our first drive to the camp waterhole when we arrived gave us a male lion crouched drinking with a wonderful reflection in the water.

Vasco our guide and tracker Mishak were founts of knowledge on where the animals were likely to be found and Mishak's game walk describing how people lived in the Kalahari, found food and medicine and made fire was impressive.

The evening meal was announced in song by the waiters and kitchen staff, a truly amazing touch. The food itself was fantastic and we were never hungry - quite amazing for a bush camp.

Early morning game drive at 06.30am it was only 3C and with wind chill on the vehicles, it was COLD to say the least but by 2.00pm it was 31C. Bush babies were very much appreciated on one's lap.

A fantastic visit to Tau Pan" See all these reviews: 17n in Kenya; 9n in Zimbabwe; 6n in Tanzania; 5n in Botswana; 5n in Zambia

"Our first camp which was a good thing since there wasn't a lot of game to be seen on the pan.

Plus it was freezing cold on the game drives, much colder than we had anticipated and colder than any of the other camps. But we were well-supplied with blankets and bush-babies and deserts are cold at night!

We hit pay-dirt on our first outing, seeing a lion kill at the water-hole, and the lions stayed for a couple of days so we had lots of excitement. Also found a leopard which was brilliant." See all these reviews: 11n in Botswana

"Just as good as other two

Bit bothered by leopard next to our veranda 3 ft" See all these reviews: 9n in Botswana; 2n in Zimbabwe

"This was our first visit to the Kalahari and we hoped to see animals that we hadn’t seen before.

Tau Pan was a very friendly and comfortable camp. The rooms were spacious and clean. We enjoyed watching animals at the water hole each day. The food was excellent and my unusual diet was catered for. We found our guide and tracker very knowledgable and they worked very well together.

We did see the animals we hoped for along with a rare sighting of a wild cat. Sunsets were incredibly beautiful and enjoyed with our sundowners.The only disappointment was that the nearness of the lion pride did not enable us to do a walking safari." See all these reviews: 9n in Botswana

"This is luxury in the desert. Comfort in a spacious private chalet with a million dollar view of the Tau Pan, and having a cool swimming pool in a desert are just a terrific experience.

Naturally, there is not the profusion of wildlife that there is in wetter areas, but we saw numerous gemsbock (oryx), lions, springbok, steenbok and red haartebeast. There is a great variety of birdlife, including vultures and raptors. We had a fleeting glimpse of the legendary honey badger. Leopard tracks abounded and sightings occured immediately before and after our visit, guaranteeing a return in the future.

As this camp is located in a national park, safari drives are restricted by the necessity to keep to the road, but still plenty of new and different landscape to enjoy." See all these reviews: 10n in Botswana; 2n in Zimbabwe

"The location on the top of the dune overseeing the whole area including both, sunrise on the left and sunset on the right was really beautiful. There was a waterhole was placed down the dune visible from the common area and from our chalet as well. We felt so well here, welcomed and treated nicely.

The rules of the National park were followed carefully by our experienced guide Patrick and his tracker Skupa (he had unbelievably sharp eyes and philosophical approach to life). We enjoyed our full day trip to Deception Valley. The countryside was marvelous and animals were waiting for us. On our way back we went through Passarge Valley to a Passarge waterhole.

Next day we visited San Pan and Tau Pan. We experienced a storm (twice) with a full rainbow arc earth to earth. One night three lions decided to fight for a lioness vigorously in the camp. After the fight, they slept in front of our chalet and so we were promptly given another one to sleep in. Also, an elephant wandered freely through the camp and once it chased lions from the waterhole. We felt totally safe, all the animals respected us.

This place and programme exceeded our expectations. Food and drinks were carefully chosen, served and very tasty." See all these reviews: 6n in Botswana

"Very different from the Okovango camps but an excellent comparitor. The guides were particulary good - they knew everything we asked about. Only one point: the temperature fell to 2 degrees in the morning. Our room had no windows and the cold air cascaded over our bed. We were really cold at night and didn't sleep well. But otherwise it was outstanding. I would certainly recommend it." See all these reviews: 9n in Botswana

"Great game viewing - lions especially. Excellent tracker - Scooper. Shame about the gang of noisy Americans - we had to ask to be moved to another vehicle. Kwando need to get on top of this. All staff, except the vanishing manager, very good and attentive. Our third visit and we will go back again." See all these reviews: 10n in Botswana

"A great setting with many interesting species to see - particular favourites - the bat-eared foxes and a cheetah.
Guide (Alex) was very knowledgeable and excellent at getting quickly to interesting sightings as events developed - but perhaps a little quiet. Our tracker, G, was very sharp and keen to share his knowledge of the bush/animal behaviour.

Our only issue was being told that a morning game drive would finish early as we had to take two guests to the airstrip. We have never experienced having a game drive interrupted in this way. (We were told no other vehicles were available.) We said we were not happy with this and the guide suggested we could make up the time after the drop off, which we accepted. So the issue was resolved. Fortunately it did not interrupt a particularly special wildlife encounter, but had it done so this would have been totally unacceptable - also see comments later." See all these reviews: 10n in Botswana