DUBA NEWSLETTER April has been amazing month in the Duba Plains concession, with fantastic sightings, hard working guests and inspired guides. A large group of Australian guests arrived for their fourth visit to the area and were not disappointed on their first night when they were greeted by a large herd of elephant in camp [...]

April is the cruellest month….as the temperatures continue to drop on a daily basis, I was almost tempted to believe TS Eliot but in fact April has been anything but cruel in terms of its safari this month. It all started with African wild dogs who decided to appear at early morning breakfast and kill [...]

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 [...]

If you are asked to sum up Duba Plains in a matter of words then more often than not Lions, Buffalo, exceptional photography, Dereck and Beverley Joubert and National Geographic’s The Last Lions come to mind. The Lion and Buffalo interaction is world famous and we are one of the top places in Africa to [...]

27th March 2013 – 6.10am “we hear erratic splashing coming from the water in front of tent 4″. “In the cool of the early morning our guests had been watching the moon set from the main deck.  When there is a full moon you can enjoy its last hanging moments reflecting off the Zibidianja lagoon [...]

While there’s no doubt that being alluded to as the Brangelina’s of the safari industry is quite a compliment, there’s much more substance to the work of Dereck & Beverly than appearances. Tiara Walters of South Africa’s Sunday Times weaves a story which we hope will “turn around a billion Chinese”. But it requires your [...]

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 [...]

Meet Bokamoso The Leopard, she is using this tree to scan for prey not far from Zarafa Camp The Young Female is almost 3 and half years old so she will have left her mother around two years ago. Bokamoso, meaning future in Setswana, is a very appropriate name for this endangered animal. Protecting these species one [...]

A large python, close to 10 feet, was seen last night by tent 1 at Duba, the housekeepers were “awakened” to it during turndown…Nick, the Duba manager, went to see what he could do to calm the ladies and found the snake  busy hunting  under the deckboards…. All of  a sudden the hunter became the [...]

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 [...]

There are few perfect places in the world, but Zarafa (for want of a piano in the main area) is certainly one of them. I shouldn’t hanker for music with so much wildlife abounding but it’s such an inspirational place that the dulcet tones of a (non ivory) keyboard would not be misplaced at sunset. [...]

The breeze coming off the spillway in February helped cool the residents of Selinda reserve and the insects were given haven in the long grass, this has lead to some pretty fantastic birdwatching in the area and the lush greenery adds to the feel of really being out in the bush. There is nothing like [...]

This was the month that we completed the first ever Great Plains Conservation aerial survey over Duba Plains.   We have collaborated with Elephant Without Borders’ Mike Chase and Kelly Langden for what will be two annual survey, one in each the wet and dry seasons.  Each May, we will then release a full report [...]

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 [...]

Fred is back at Zarafa, with  an absence of a few months but he has returned! Good ‘ol Fred, the sleeping elephant.  If you can remember Fred from last year?   He was the famous elephant who liked to sleep on the termite mound in front of camp – all the time and made famous [...]

KB, our Duba guide who has outstanding birding knowledge, has found a Pel’s fishing Owl only 2 km from Duba Plains. This is one of Africa’s, and the world’s, most sought after birds as it is an incredibly unique owl that predates on fish. This compliments some outstanding birding at Duba, one of the foremost [...]

And here’s how the cheetah vs. leopard sighting at Selinda Reserve transpired. Written by Jamie Hopf, guest and photographer of this extraordinary event. Dicks of Selinda Camp was the guide. Our very first morning drive definitely set the bar high for the rest of our trip! Our guide, Dicks, spotted some cheetah tracks in the [...]

 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 [...]

Botswana Olympics The inaugural Great Plains Conservation “Botswana Olympics” was held in January. The Selinda Reserve, and then Duba Plains, hosted the all day events on 29th January and 1st February respectively. Mirroring our cousins in Kenya, and their Maasai Olympics held in December, we wanted an equally fun day of camaraderie and bonding. With [...]

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. [...]

Pictured is a frequent visitor to the camp, loving the lush green leaves on the trees at this time of year.  5 tonnes of mass, he is incredibly tactile in camp. Stepping over obstacles in order not to break them.  One amazing site is watching him breathe in so that he can squeeze through a [...]

Duba Plains’ Executive Chef Pierre was setting up early brunch one morning last week, always with a camera near by, Pierre spotted these two Cattle Egrets bickering away whilst bouncing around on the back of a buffalo. Oblivious to their surroundings, and the fact they are prancing around on a mass of grumpy Cape Buffalo. [...]

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, [...]