It has been an above average wet season in the Makgadikgadi. With a cloudburst of late rains, we received 185mm in just 48 hours. This is incredible when one considers that three years ago, Jack’s Camp received a rainfall of just 168mm over a twelve month period.
The high rainfall has attracted many lion, cheetah and thousands of zebra to the area and we’re currently experiencing some great game sightings in and around Jack’s Camp. It’s wonderful to experience the zebra walking between the tents, so relaxed and used to our presence that they hardly lift their heads as we pass.
There’s a resident family of honey badgers getting up to all sorts of nocturnal mischief and on top of all this, we’ve had some other special visitors. Elephant have been roaming casually through the Jack’s Camp area! A group of Guests and Guides had the privilege of spotting aardvark in broad day light, an incredibly rare sighting which had those of us that missed it green with envy!
The plans for the boundary fence, east of us, are in full swing, and while the fencing may appear contrary to our ethos, it will in fact have many positive spin-offs, the most significant of these being the resolution of conflict between community and wildlife. Game numbers will increase dramatically when the area is fenced and protected, cattle posts will be relocated and sensitive and selective implementation of water holes will be actioned. We have been operating in the Makgadikgadi for 18 years now and our presence has had a marked and positive effect. The game is tamer and the poaching has decreased. The area is currently host to between 35-75 000 zebra and wildebeest, Southern Africa’s last surviving and little-known annual migration, and it is encouraging to remember that the Serengeti migration was down to 100 000 animals, before bouncing back to over one million animals over the last twenty years after similar implementation.With the proposed fences, the Makgadikgadi is set to become “The Serengeti of the South”!
Jack’s Camp has been voted one of the Top 20 Leisure Hotels in the 2009 Conde Nast Traveller UK Reader’s Awards.Scenic flights over the Makgadikgadi pans are now available for Guests staying at Jack’s Camp and Camp Kalahari. This is an especially lovely experience during the wet season, as Guests can enjoy a bird’s-eye view of the migration and the flamingo that come to breed in the area during this time. 15 or 30 minute flight options are available.
For more information about holidays to Jacks Camp contact us on pg@africaselect,com
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