Planet Baobab

Planet Baobab is set on the edge of the vast Makgadikgadi Pans, just off the main Nata/ Maun Road, offering some unique accommodation in Botswana. The pans are the remnants of the once great Lake Makgadikgadi, some 80,000 square kilometres in extent, and up to 30 metres deep in its day, the largest inland sea in Africa. In the wet season (November to March), this vast area of salt pans interspersed with low-lying grass islands is the destination of herds of migrating wildebeest
and zebra, along with numerous species of migratory birds. Planet Baobab is the self-styled Baobab capital of the world - the average age of each tree is 4 000 years.

The camp is popular for self-drives but also well worth a visit for 'fly-in'? guests. Accommodation is varied, as you can choose from the traditional Bakalanga Huts (which are en-suite) or genuine San (Bushman) Grass Huts, each built and designed by local craftsmen, with attractive exterior artwork using natural pigments harvested from termite mounds!

For guests staying in the Grass Huts, or making use of the camp site, ablutions are shared, with the central blocks interestingly designed and built, using truly inspiring local art. The hub at Planet Baobab is the shebeen bar, complete with its huge beer bottle chandelier suspended from the thatched roof, cow skin chairs and Mopane walls covered in an amazing collection of photographs. Meals are taken in the adjacent
dining area under the spreading branches of a morula tree.

Just a stone's throw from all this beer and bustle is the elephant's paddling pool. Oblivious to Guests crouching in the nearby trees, the elephants and travellers mostly ignore each other.

There is a surprising amount to do - get up close and personal with the friendly, habituated meerkats, tour the local village and learn about Batswana culture, visit a local cattle post and enjoy a delicious traditional lunch, and visit Nxai Xini Pan to seek out ancient stone tools and fossils. Visit the famous Green's Baobab, and do a walk through a baobab forest .
During the dry season, Planet Baobab offers quad bike excursions across the Makgadikgadi Pans, sleep outs under the stars or a 5 night quad bike expedition to the remote and mysterious Kubu Island.

During the wet season see the spectacular migration. Host to between 35-75 000 zebra and wildebeest, Southern Africa's last and little-known annual migration.Best of all, if you are very lucky, your accommodation in Botswana allows you can overnight on the Pans under the most spectacular night skies in the world, enjoying a barbecue of a lifetime.