Duba Plains

Duba Plains Review

Built on an island that can be reached only by plane, this tiny camp is shaded by ebony, fig, and garcinia trees, and surrounded by vast plains—which are flooded from about May to early October, depending on the rains—the camp is ideal for true wilderness buffs. When the water is high, the game competes with the camp for dry ground, and lions and hyenas become regular dusk-to-dawn visitors. You can watch hundreds of buffalo, leopards, lions, cheetahs, elephants, hippos, lechwes (a type of antelope), and the most beautiful of all the antelopes—the sable—from one of only two 4x4 open-game vehicles in the reserve. The Duba lion prides are among the few to hunt by day—they have a taste for buffalo—and if you're really lucky, you might find yourself and your vehicle bang in the middle of one of these spectacular hunts. The area is also a birder's paradise, with an abundance of waterfowl. En-suite tents with ceiling fans and gleaming Rhodesian teak furniture complement stupendous views. There's a comfy lounge and small bar in the public area and a poolside gazebo as well as a bird blind tucked behind the camp. The camp is in the Kwedi Reserve, a massive wildlife sanctuary that has been ceded by the Botswana Government and the Tawana Land Board to the people who live in the north of the delta. The aim is that the local people benefit from the wildlife that tourists come to see in their "backyard," so to speak. Annual payments are made to a trust called the Okavango Community Trust, which represents the interests of all the people living in the five villages to the north of the Okavango.