DUBA EXPLORERS CAMP
PRESENTS SCENES AS OLD AS AFRICA
Venture out into the Duba wilderness in the northern part of the Okavango Delta, a wildlife connoisseur’s getaway in a magnificent landscape. This prolific wildlife area is the base of many famous wildlife documentaries by National Geographic filmmakers Dereck and Beverley Joubert.
Duba Explorers Camp offers safari exclusivity. It is small, intimate and one of the Okavango Delta’s most remote camps, located in the furthermost reaches on the private Duba Plains Reserve north of the Moremi Wildlife Reserve. The camp is built on an island shaded by large ebony and fig trees, surrounded by expansive plains that flood seasonally – usually from around May to early October each year, depending on the arrival of the rains to the north.
Duba is in an ideal location to offer some of the most exciting of safari experiences, wildlife and birdlife here is abundant and very impressive. And you will get amazing opportunities to witness the unique African wildlife up close, and in privacy, as this is the only camp in a 77.000-acre private concession, a matrix of palm-dotted islands, flood plains and woodland.
Duba Explorers Camp is open year round.
ACCOMMODATIONS
This intimate camp takes us back to authentic safari style of 1920’s high-end expeditions, it has only five tents of light airy canvas on slightly raised decking, overlooking the surrounding floodplain. Each tent has a private verandah and en-suite bathroom with indoor shower. The main area is under sweeping marquis canvas, on raised decking and consists of an open-concept dining and lounge area that opens to the outdoors on all sides. In the evenings, the fire is a popular spot to enjoy a drink and recount the day’s events.
Community
A visit to Duba directly supports the communities of northern Botswana. Duba Explorers Camp, is part of a joint venture partnership between Great Plains Conservation and the Okavango Community Trust, the representative body for five villages in the Okavango Panhandle. This partnership ensures that these communities receive tangible and substantial benefit from using their ancestral land for wildlife conservation. Botswana is a leader in such partnerships, and Great Plains Conservation’s working relationship is a testament to this long-standing example of success in this area.
ACTIVITIES
Game drives, both day and night, take place in some of Botswana’s most coveted vehicles. Three of Duba’s unique Toyota Land Cruisers are aptly named ‘Swamp Vehicles’ due to their extra-high suspension and huge tires – designed to traverse the floodplains and channels of the concession in comfort.
Driving Safaris
While the focus remains on the most comfortable times of day, early to mid-morning and late afternoon to evening, for drives, it is not uncommon to spend full days out in the field, having brunch or even dinner delivered to the vehicles. Duba’s schedule is extremely flexible and you are encouraged to create your own itinerary according to your interests. Should you like, safaris will continue into the night in search of nocturnal species.
Walking Safaris
Guided game walks with licensed, armed guides are available, and these can be combined with boat cruise or game drive.
Water Safaris
Duba Explorers Camp is a combination activity based camp, allowing you to explore the Okavango Delta’s permanent channels by boat, when water levels allow, this is truly an invigorating, yet peaceful experience, allowing for wildlife and birding viewing from the boat.
WILDLIFE
Duba Explorers Camp offers extraordinary wildlife experiences, renowned with regular sightings of a diverse range of species, including large herds of Red lechwe along with greater kudu, tsessebe, buffalo, warthog and blue wildebeest that dot the plains and even giraffe, which in previous years has been a rare sighting. Elephant trudge through the delta and are regularly seen, and hippos and crocodiles inhabit the deeper channels. In this area one can often find productive hyena dens that provide great opportunities to see litters of cubs. Leopards are also common on many of the forested islands. Nocturnal species such as Brown hyena can be sighted as well, along with civet, serval, African wildcat, honey badger, springhares, aardvark and aardwolf. Wildlife is a regular sight right in camp. Birds abound, and the area is reputed as a birdwatcher’s paradise. Okavango ‘specials’ include the rare Wattled crane and Slaty egret, Martial eagles, Marsh owls, Pel’s fishing owl, White-backed night heron, Violet-eared waxbills, Southern ground hornbills and Pygmy geese.
PHOTOGRAPHY
Duba’s unique Toyota Land Cruisers are open-sided, canopied and customized for photographers with fold-down screens, raised roofs, photographic bars and multi-plug invertors. With just four to six guests each, keen photographer who require special arrangements, or custom routines, are encouraged to book private vehicles for sole use of a vehicle or full day drive with picnic.
During a day at Duba, one can spend hours with a single pride of lions watching tiny cubs playing with their mother, aunts and siblings. Other days one may choose to roam the plains absorbing the splendor of large herds of Red lechwe running through and around the channels, or small roaming herds of elephants. A photographer’s dream to spend time with wildlife in privacy with no other vehicles around.
Relentless Enemies: Lions & Buffalo
Dereck and Beverly Joubert, acclaimed filmmakers and photographers, spent three years among the prides of lions and herds of Cape buffalo on the Duba plains. Their time and commitment resulted in the National Geographic Society book and documentary, Relentless Enemies: Lions and Buffalo. Through their passion, they share some gripping images and relate amazing episodes of these powerful beasts. Both the book and documentary focus on the endless struggle and interaction of great predatory cats hunting in the heat of the day, stalking their quarry, the great Cape buffalo, through the plains and water, against all odds. For further information and to order a DVD or book, please visit the Joubert website: www.wildlifefilms.co
