Reviews of Camp Kalahari

"This report concerns Camp Kalahari


RELAXING FORMALITIES FOR HALF AN HOUR
I arrived feeling motion sickness. I was unwell. The MackAir plane was old, and it was parked in the sun in Maun before take-off. (I later met the passengers again. We had all been unwell. A too hot small plane, and no cooling aircon got the better of us. One can only worry about the pilot and his wellbeing.)


I was desperate for 15 minutes on my own. I asked the guide, if I could please go straight to my tent, delay formalities and just recuperate.


I am impressed by the kindness and consideration from all staff in the camp. No nonsense, I was taken straight to my tent, I was on the bed in a minute. A kind spirit came to my tent with ice cubes, hot tea, and a re-hydration powder, and disappeared again. A little angle. I was so appreciative, and I still am. No words, just a tray full of rescue plans. THANK YOU!


FEELING WELCOME IN THE GROUP OF GUESTS


After a 20-minute rest, a lot of tea, water, and the powder, I made my way to the main area. I was made to feel so welcome. Both the staff and a group of 19 Americans and Canadians welcomed me.


Formalities managed, quick talk about vegetarian food. All good.


5 STARS
I LOVE Camp Kalahari. I will TripAdvisor them five stars, and ten if it was an option.


The staff get on well together. You feel that as a guest. They are easy going, blend in without being an authority. It is clear the management encourages the staff to “think” and step away from procedures, if that is what a guest needs right now.


Meals were taken at one long table where guests and staff mixed. We shared some good laughs, and I enjoyed learning about the group’s adventures around Botswana.


Breakfasts are enjoyed in the bush, which is my absolute favourite. Good products, a variation of dishes every day, fresh and high quality.


TENT
I was in tent No. 8. Spacious tent with a ballroom sized bathroom. At all times, the housekeeping kept the tent fresh and looked after.


There is plenty of thermos bottles with water in the tent.


The wake-up includes delivery of hot drinks on a tray.


There are robes and slippers in the tent.


Laundry done to perfection as a morning to evening service.


TOURS AND GUIDE
Because the American & Canadian group had their own vehicles, I was on my own with my guide. He was fun, full of knowledge, and he knows a thing or two about wildlife. He enjoyed sharing, and I enjoyed learning more.


It was a pleasure to be on tours. Wildlife in abundance. The Kalahari desert is just stunning nature. I am glad my agent; Expert Africa, advised me to include the Kalahari in my tour. Originally it was not on my list.


MAIN AREA
The main areas are attended to all day. You have drinks and a cookie jar available all day. The internet is in the main area only. (On a personal note, I like it when the WiFi is in the tents only, it allows for guests to enjoy time together rather than guest looking at phones.)


CATERING
We hit 46 C mid-day. What I am really impressed with is the quality of the food products used, moreover the fact that in the middle of a dessert, the chef managed to serve fresh crisp salat leaves garnished with fresh crisp herbs. I can barely keep coriander crisp in my kitchen. Respect.


Noting you ask for seems to be any trouble. Guests spend time together in the large sofa groups, where high tea is taken, other meals are taken as a group at one long table.


SPECIAL TREAT
I was the only guest on my last evening. One group left; one was due the next day. I was treated to a beautifully set dinner table in the “courtyard” in front of the main areas. Joined by my guide and his colleague, we dinned together. A real treat.


SAFARI VEHICLES
They have big safari vehicles, comfortable and very spacious. I took this for granted until I arrived at a camp, where the vehicles are so small, I constantly pressed my knees against a metal rod in front of me. Here it was all comfort.


MEERKATS
Camp Kalahari, San Camp and Jacks Camp share meerkat guides, who look for the meerkats early morning. To me a “colony” is a large group, we found 3 (three) meerkats, and I was told it was a colony.


While I appreciate wildlife does what wildlife do, I would scale down some of the images and wording in the promotional material. “Colonies of meerkats,” sets the level of expectations high.


There is wildlife in abundance, and an immense variety. It is such an interesting experience to see the wildlife in the desert.


I would go back, and I highly recommend this camp. The accommodation, the main areas, the teams, the tours, and guides, the catering, the relaxed atmosphere, ALL 5 stars.


Thank you for adding to my Botswana experience. I loved every minute.

-o0o-" See all these reviews: 10n in Botswana

"The tents at Camp Kalahari took some getting used to. The opening and closing of the zippers were pretty hard on my parents - 80 and 78 years old with back problems. Contrary to their website, there is light in the tents at all times as well as a charging station. So no need for all the powerbanks I'd brought along! Wifi is available in the pool area.

Camp Kalahari shares the reserve with two sister camps, Jack's and San and ALL the experiences are planned and assigned by the people at Jack's. It was assumed that we wanted to do every activity - which we did - but there was never really any discussion about that. I guess we could have decided not to do one, but then we would have missed it, since there's no flexibility with regards to the Meerkat experience and the night on the pans. As such, we found it a bit annoying that the information was only ever shared in the afternoon for the following day.

The activities are assigned to each jeep. So a family group of 6 will have an exclusive experience, but 3 couples sharing a vehicle would also share that experience. We were lucky to have the jeep to ourselves, as it allowed us to go out on the pan in the vehicle, rather than on the quads and for my horseback ride to end at the Bushmen village, meeting up with my parents there.

There is flexibility with the timing of the horseback ride. It can be done in place of a scheduled morning or afternoon activity, but also in addition during other times of the day, like I did. It is also exclusive to the group doing the booking, so as I had booked as a single rider, I was taking out by myself, which is great, as the guides could tailor the pace to my capabilities. We saw jackals, elephants, wildebeest and the guide explained about termites and special plants along the way. It was a wonderful and completely unique experience and I highly recommend it!

Overall and as expected, we did not see as much wildlife as in the other camps, BUT we were extremely lucky:
- We saw a cheetah on the airfield as soon as we landed and caught up with her again the next day, feeding on her kill.
- There is a very accomodating Aardvark which comes out before sunset and he even allowed us to walk with him for a bit.
- On the way back from the pans we spotted a Black-footed Cat, one of the rarest sights of all!!

The food was good, but there is no buffet - other than the cereals in the morning. Lunch is one dish decided by the chef and there is a choice of three entrees for dinner." See all these reviews: 10n in Botswana

"We had a fantastic experience in our 3 nights at Camp Kalahari. We arrived in a bit of a state as our airline transfer caused a bag to go missing, however, through some magic the Natural Selection team and the camp managed to get it to us... from Jo'burg airport to our TENT (!) in about 48 hours. Amazing service.

Our tent was well-appointed and set well away from the other tents, it felt very private and we weren't really aware of any neighbouring guests. The coffee and tea service with the wake-up call was a very nice touch also, as it was cold at night when we were there. The fluffy dressing gowns and hot water bottles in the bed were much appreciated. Meals were excellent - particularly high tea - and it was nice to eat in a communal setting with other guests and share stories and sightings. The dinner served out on the salt pans was also magical, with hot coals under the chairs keeping us warm and exceptional food, particularly incredible work by the chefs given how remote the setting was. The camp staff gave us a honeymoon send-off on our last night as well, with a bottle of bubbles chilling in the room when we got back from dinner.

Our guide, KG, was absolutely brilliant... very passionate and knowledgable and good chat throughout.

The activities like quad-biking in the salt pans and meeting the meerkats were also great fun, highly recommend the quad bikes purely to see 'The Great Nothing' that is the middle of a big salt pan... it's like landing on the moon.

The camp has a very informal vibe among the staff, no uniforms etc..., so one suggestion (not really a criticism) is that name tags would be helpful, as trying to remember the names of so many of the lovely staff was a challenge, particularly after 20+ hours of flights." See all these reviews: 9n in Botswana; 2n in Zambia

"Camp Kalahari allowed us to do things not available at other camps such as meeting the San bushmen and the unique, wonderful meerkats.

The meerkats actually stood on our heads for a better view!" See all these reviews: 9n in Botswana

"A completely different experience to Chobe and the Okavanga, but we are really glad that we went. It was a memorable visit.

The scenery was completely different to the others, but wonderful.

Walking with meerkats was fantastic as was the bushman walk and the quad biking experience on our final evening is something that should not be missed.

The staff were really helpful, extremely friendly and in some ways it was a more laid back atmosphere than the other camps" See all these reviews: 12n in Botswana; 2n in Zimbabwe

"A fantastic experience: excellent on all fronts. Terrain so different.

Very different activities: quadbiking and dining out but you have to go in order to experience them all!

Our guide Declerc enthusiastic, determined and full of humour. We expressed our appreciation for the whole experience to the manager Olga.

Only slight issue (and its very minor) is we found the lighting in our tent a little dim." See all these reviews: 15n in Botswana; 2n in Zimbabwe

"CK was lovely. The staff were very friendly and professional.

The food was excellent and the tents very comfortable although the zips weren't nearly as convenient as the sliding doors at the other camps.

We had some amazing experiences. Particular favourites were the quad biking on the salt pans and the morning spent with the Meerkats (this was our kids' must see!)" See all these reviews: 9n in Botswana; 4n in Zambia

"The camp was just as I expected, not top of the range but very good.

More game than expected, especially Wildebeest and Zebra and the Mere Cats a delight.

Sleepout night disappointing as cold and windy and bit cloudy, evening of arrival not best time to do it as we had been travelling for 24hours and very tired.

Guide De Clerk was excellent and taught us much about the Bushmen." See all these reviews: 9n in Botswana; 4n in Zambia

"For those taking part in all the activities (eg quad bikes ) it was a great place and they had an amazing time..

In contrast to our other camps it seemed a bit unprofessional and disorganised. Difficult to get info on timings etc if not taking part in the full package.

Tent lighting quite poor - you need a good torch or preferably a head torch as no bedside lighting. Communal charging points but plenty of them. Need to ensure you get to see one of the larger colonies of meerkats as we would only have seen 4 until we pushed to visit a larger group.

Saw a number of other animals not on the list (honey badger, bat-ear fox mongoose etc)" See all these reviews: 11n in Botswana; 7n in Namibia

"This camp may be the least 'glamorous' of the three on the concession but for us it was a perfect balance of comfort and safari experience, with some fantastic wildlife viewing thrown in.
The tents / rooms are well appointed and comfortable, and well spaced out to give you a sense of being in the bush. The lounge and dining tent is a great space to relax or chat, and the food really was excellent.
The staff were amongst the most welcoming and friendly of all our many stays in Africa, and it was they that give it a homely feel whilst hitting consistently high standards of service. We loved the friendly banter that fills the airwaves between the vehicles from the different camps.
The wildlife sightings exceeded our expectations - good game, lion, the fattest jackel I have ever seen and a very special time with the meerkats. Plus we saw Brown Hyena which was a first for us. Lots of nocturnal critters on the night drives. The camp also offers walks and quad biking for a variety of experience.
This really opened our eyes to the possibilities of the Kalahari and Makgadikgadi, so we will look to return one day." See all these reviews: 14n in Botswana