Jack's Camp Turned an Ancient Botswana Salt Pan Into One of Africa's Most Distinctive Safari Camps

Jack's Camp sits on Ntwetwe, one of the two great pans that make up the Makgadikgadi salt flats in northern Botswana, an expanse so flat and empty that early aviators are said to have used it as a landmark. The camp was built in 1962 by explorer Jack Bousfield and later expanded by his son Ralph into the vintage-safari tent camp it is today, now run by the Botswana-based operator Natural Selection. Its setting, a palm-fringed island rising out of a dry salt pan the size of a small country, has no real equivalent elsewhere in Africa.

A meerkat colony that has grown up around the camp

Jack's Camp runs one of southern Africa's longest-established meerkat habituation projects, developed over the years with outside researchers. A wild colony living near camp has grown accustomed to a ranger's daily presence, and guests can sit at ground level as the meerkats emerge from their burrow at sunrise, forage and take turns on sentry duty, occasionally using a nearby head or shoulder as a lookout post. It's an encounter built on patience rather than any staged photo opportunity.

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Quad-biking across an ancient lakebed

During the dry season, the pan itself becomes a place to explore rather than just look at: quad-bike excursions head out across the hard salt crust toward its horizon, sometimes timed to end with a night sleeping out on the open pan under the Kalahari's notably dark skies. In the wet season, the same pans flood and draw flamingos and other waterbirds, shifting the excursions toward walking safaris instead.

A camp built around the Kalahari's human history

Jack's Camp works with a community of Zu/'hoasi San, whose ancestors have lived in this part of the Kalahari for generations, offering guided walks that focus on tracking, foraging and plant knowledge rather than a staged performance. The camp's decor, tented but layered with rugs, campaign furniture and natural history specimens collected by the Bousfield family over the decades, reflects a place that has been lived in rather than recently built for guests.

Getting there

Jack's Camp is reached by light aircraft charter from Maun, Botswana's main safari gateway, which itself connects to Johannesburg, Cape Town and other regional hubs. There is no road access suited to independent travel; transfers are arranged as part of a stay.

Traveller tips

• The dry season, roughly April to October, offers the clearest pan-walking and quad-biking conditions; the wet season (November to March) favours birdlife on the flooded pans.
• Access is by light aircraft from Maun; independent driving to the camp is not practical.
• Meerkat viewing is best at sunrise, when the colony first emerges from its burrow.
• As with any ultra-remote camp, confirm current rates, minimum-stay requirements and malaria precautions directly with the operator before booking.