Driving back to camp after a splendid morning tracking a lone Lioness for two hours, eventually finding her plus four two and a half month old cubs. We were just passing an area locally known as Jouberts Island. Here the flood plains are drying up awaiting the seasonal flood to return. It has left pools [...]
Selinda Explorers Camp – Private Safari by Safari Architects Day 1 My guests and I had been waiting for this trip for the last 6 months! After a lot of banter and excitement, the day had finally arrived when we would be leaving for our Selinda adventure. Both myself and Brad were leading the trip, [...]
Safari Architects’ Brad reviews the wonders of Selinda Explorers Camp on a Private Safari Day 1 My guests and I had been waiting for this trip for the last 6 months! After a lot of banter and excitement, the day had finally arrived when we would be leaving for our Selinda adventure. Both myself and [...]
Last year we witnessed some extraordinary sightings involving a rather eccentric Cheetah we called Sehema, this means silly in Setswana. Two of the highlights came in as many days. The first involved some of our Selinda Camp guests who came across what seemed to be a Cheetah stalking something. Cheetah are our rarest cat so [...]
A new Wild dog pack on the Selinda Reserve has been discovered. We have named it the “Explorers Pack” which consists of just 4 individuals. Led by an Alpha female we suspect that they have split from a pack from the north, possibly the Kwando area. They are incredibly distinct being very dark. One of [...]
On the 1st March we re-opened Selinda Explorers Camp for its second season. It was extremely exciting for us to see the spillway flowing with water, over the summer months it does dry up. The waters have come from heavy rainfall, throughout the wet season, coupled with the flood waters from Angola flowing in from [...]
We all talk about the “magic hours” of photography. Those golden soft light periods, just after and before sunrise and sunset. It is often said that the harsher light of midday is just not good enough for great images as it is too bleached and flat. One tip maybe then to convert to black and [...]
DON’T YOU WISH THIS WERE YOUR CLASSROOM…. In December 2012, Great Plains Conservation held a week long educational program for the local communities of Seronga and Gudikwa. In order to teach and share ideas, Selinda Explorers Camp’s main area was transformed into a make-shift classroom. Subjects covered were: Okavango Delta and all of Botswana’s ecosystems [...]
Boot Camp 2013 Each year, we close our camps at the end of January for our annual “Boot Camp” – a week of focused intensive training (not military drills!). This was the sixth Selinda Reserve Boot Camp and the second Duba Plains Boot Camp. Each year, there is always the challenge of developing a new [...]
Weddings Bells at the Selinda Reserve Every year on the Selinda Reserve we bring in the New Year, and the new season, with a fun day for all the staff. Each year is unique, and this year it included the Botswana Olympics (covered in another post). But it was also unique for another reason. There [...]
We have 3 new arrivals on the Selinda Reserve, 3 tiny ten day old lion cubs were spotted for the first time yesterday. Mots (Selinda Camp guide) was following one of the Wakpuka pride females . She walked over to an acacia bush to reveal three tiny little cubs, probably not even 2 weeks old. [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
We were initially very disappointed to learn just before we left for Botswana, that the Selinda Canoe Trail had been cancelled due to the sudden drop in water levels along the Selinda Spillway. We were therefore very pleased when Josh, our guide, informed us at the airstrip that we would be after all be able [...]
The Selinda Canoe Trail departure we were on was cancelled because of sudden drop in water levels along the Selinda Spillway in October but we decided to spend 5 days at Selinda nonetheless. Fortunately we were able to do three sessions of paddling on part of the canoe trail, including an overnight stay at the [...]
Recently our friends and colleagues at Ellerman House, based in Cape Town, hosted the annual ArtAngels charity art auction and party for the first time this year, following the success of the inaugural 2011 event at CIRCA on Jellicoe in Johannesburg where R1.6 million was then raised for charity This year, and going forward, ArtAngels [...]
We’ve now had two very successful trips at Explorers Camp with a number to come before the end of the season. What has stood out is the complete remoteness, exclusivity, and raw wilderness the camp provides. We have had some extraordinary sightings, but more so experiences at this gem of a place so far, here [...]
As many of you know Dereck and Beverly recently made a new movie called The Unlikely Leopard Why not take 2 minutes and enjoy the short clip available here ? Easy Prey scene – The Unlikely Leopard
Today, 30 September, Botswana celebrates 46 years of independence. The celebrations are in full swing! Watch this space for some more pictures of the action with guests and staff. Pula, Pula, Pula!!!!
What better way to spend a quiet moment when on safari?
Our canoe trail reports have been a bit quiet recently but rest assured that’s not due to a lack of excitement and adventure! We had the most incredible trips over the past few months, which have just flown by. We’ve been non-stop since June with every safari (set departure date filled). Now with only a [...]
Welcome to the brand new Selinda Explorers Camp in Botswana
You have to see it to believe it! 1000 Buffalo crossing in front of your vehicle on an early transfer to the airstrip. The morning light provided the warm glow enhanced as the herd kicked up dust as they went. Buffalo in these numbers are such a joy to watch, but this site would not [...]
