Recent guest Di from Adelaide, Australia, encapsulates what is just so special abotu Selinda Explorer’s Camp: “What a treat. We were able to do day paddles, & bypass the hippos and elephants from the water. No ticking off the Big Five by truck, just the absolute privilege of walking quietly through the bush, following footprints [...]

Let’s transport you to another vision, where you are floating on the HBS Zib in the middle of Zibadianja Lagoon in Botswana’s Selinda Reserve. And get this, you are on a massage bed. Yes, it’s true. “There is always a bowl of water with an orchid in it whenever I go to a spa, so [...]

With the increased demand for small luxuries in the safari industry, Great Plains Conservation looks for innovative ways to retain the true essence of safari while also meeting the needs of our guests. With that, Zarafa Camp’s four guest tents rooms now have a new cooling system for all of the beds.feature a new, very [...]

Recently, Selinda Camp has been abuzz with breeding herds. From the Red lechwes to the impalas to the Blue wildebeest, and even the roan. It’s been a veritable wonderland of new life. A rare hybrid of a Red lechwe and a waterbuck was spotted, leaving many of us quite perplexed at first (see picture, below [...]

January’s rains were not for the faint of heart, with numerous downpours. There’s nothing more beautiful then the before and after from a Botswana summer storm. You can see the thunderheads build, like giants in the sky, while the wind picks up and then you know it is coming. It is so refreshing and renewing, [...]

January at Zarafa has brought much needed “pula”, also known as rain and also Botswana’s currency. The camp is beautifully green, as the vegetation grows at an incredible rate during the appropriately named “green season”.  It transforms into a birder’s paradise, and the animals at this time of year just seem to glow, enamored with all [...]

Email from Dollar on 15 Feb: “On Friday I went to the Sea Point Beach, I met a guy there called Nicollas and he took me very beautiful pictures.  I saw some big scallops next to me, I never saw that before, I wanted to pick one but suddenly  big big waves came, I tried [...]

The plan was to have a suprise sundowner for our guests at Starpan, so we loaded up the vehicle with everything we needed and set off with plenty of time to spare, an easy evening drive I said. We were busy driving down a road, that had not been used in a number of weeks, [...]

Last night we surprised our Hong Kong honeymoon couple, Flora and Tang, with a romantic moment to remember.  After a special game drive, witnessing a pregnant lion hunting, we walked them back to their room surprising them with a private dinner, and a romantic bubble bath for two!  Bubbles with two flutes of “bubbly” to [...]

Our Duba Plains airstrip is open for new arrivals! After weeks of toil, we have completed a resurfacing of the entire length of the strip, now  providing a smooth runway surface, and steady landing for all guests. The Botswana Air Authority arrived, gave its stamp of approval after the inspection, and we are good to [...]

The Selinda Pack of African wild dog seem to be thriving. We’ve just recently seen nine of the puppies, each looking like buff teens ready to soon join in the hunting.   This image was recently taken by Johnny Wagner between Zarafa and Selinda Camps.  While you can still see the softness of the fur, there’s [...]

When you fly into any safari destination the excitement of the first few steps from the light aircraft is palpable. Today, even more thrilling was the sight of two male cheetahs right on the airstrip’s edge. These two cheetah are part of what is a coalition of three brothers. It is a bit worrisome that [...]

Feb 7, 2013, email from Dollar: “Dav, um in the kitchen for a little bit, then I will move to the front then to the office just to see how everything goes,  they run such an amazing service, I  luv the way they do their salads it really cool, 5*. I’m loving the food and [...]

Dollar’s Diaries Throughout the next month we will presenting a short blog following the adventures of Dollar Ngore on his trip to Ellerman House in Cape Town. Dollar is the manager of the new Selinda Explorers Camp in Botswana.  A legend in his own right, from his chef skills to a master in traditional dance, [...]

Pictured is a Flap-Necke Chameleon (Chamaeleo dilepsis), taken at Selinda Camp.  They can often be seen in all our camps ambling slowly looking for small insects.  They famously change colour, when stressed, and most significantly their eyes move independently of each other. Did you know? – In Botswana culture the Chameleon can be related to [...]

You don’t have to travel far in Duba Plains Camp before you see something lively.  Whether it is a herd of 1000 Buffalo, or the occasional Lions following them, or the local herd of Kudu pictured, you can immerse yourself very quickly by just stepping out of your tent. Then you can look up and [...]

    A Hippo jumps for joy (with Zarafa in the background) in celebration of Zarafa’s achievement as Best Camp in Africa at this year’s Safari Awards that took place in London this week Thank you Peter Luck-Hille (a recent Zarafa guest) who took this freeze frame action shot from the Zarafa pontoon boat one [...]

GREAT PLAINS CONSERVATION OUTREACH TEAM Young Explorers Conservation Camp 2013 In December Great Plains Conservation hosted the Young Explorers Conservation Camp at the, aptly named and new, Selinda Explorers camp on the Selinda Reserve for five nights, 3rd to the 8th December 2012. The aim was to educate and bring awareness to 20 young Conservationists [...]

Each year, Mr. Harper chooses favorite properties that he has visited over the past 12 months to comprise this prestigious Grand Award list. To be considered for the annual awards, properties must be relatively small in size, possess strong individual personalities, offer relaxing atmospheres and demonstrate a consistent devotion to personal service. We are of [...]

December 2012, Zarafa Camp. Babies! It’s annual “baby-time” again around Zarafa Camp. All the animals are waiting for the first rains in order to deliver their young in times of plenty. With these delightful rains, fresh grasses and leaves emerge everywhere and the mothers agree that this is a safe and bountiful time for birth. [...]

Duba’s December Delights December is an exciting month all around the world and no less so at Duba Plains. We received big rains in the first week of December and within days the bush became alive and green again. Many birds started breeding so the sky is filled with bright and beautiful colours while the [...]

We are always seeking new ways to nurture children’s love and appreciation for the bush. And corollary to that, is giving them ways to express their new found adoration for something as magnificent as a shiny dragonfly or gigantic baobab tree or the huge flock of queleas in the summer sun. It’s often as easy [...]

Yesterday, after a huge maintenance day we went on a short game drive/ boat cruise with the entire staff. Kathy made Christmas pudding and we had small (Dutch) presents for everyone. We had our X-mas sundowners in front of the camp. We toasted on a very successful 2012 year and and the anticipation of a [...]

Dear Caitlin: My husband Peter and I had the singular pleasure of staying at Zarafa on the 5/6/7 and 8th of November. Whilst there, we were informed that the next leg of our journey which was to have been Zambia, had to be cancelled due to widespread flooding. Willem and Nienke were solicitous and incredibly [...]

Underneath the Mangosteen… We have this huge Mangosteen tree right in front of Zarafa. And every year in November it gives us very tasteful orange fruits. The birds like them, the squirrels, the warthogs, the elephants and the housekeepers. So the battle of the fruits has started. Since we like our animals in camp it [...]

October heat has carried onto November, temperatures reaching the maximum of 42 degrees flushing away the hopes of rains. This has been an amazingly dry season with the wilderness covered with a brown blanket of dying grass and leafless trees. This was a perfect game-viewing time of the year, also a disheartening time to watch [...]

We still have not received any rainfall save for the showers that we had mid November. It looks like the rainy season is delayed but the sky is always filled with rain-pregnant clouds and anytime we might get a down pour. All our game drive areas are accessible as the area is dry. Game viewing [...]

Lara Logan of CBS 60 Minutes profiles “The Last Lions” filmmakers Dereck and Beverly Joubert on location at their Great Plains Conservation Camps in Botswana Scheduled to air Sunday November 25, 2012 at 7:00 p.m. ET/PT Lara Logan and a team from CBS 60 Minutes profiled filmmakers Dereck and Beverly Joubert at their Great Plains [...]

Today, CNN featured both Ride Kenya and Selinda Canoe Trail in its article titled “9 Ways to Travel Africa in Style”. We are honored to be part of this adventurous round-up of authentic African experiences which slough off the glitz & glam and get real in the bush. Come join us soon.

Great Plains Conservation is not simply a tourism venture. As our name suggests, we are actually primarily focused on conservation and use tourism as a vector to achieve our conservation goals. Hence we we call ourselves a “Conservation Tourism” company. To this end, Dereck & Beverly Joubert founded Big Cats Initiative in partnership with National [...]