Nxai Pan Camp

Nxai Pan Camp in a Nutshell

This is a great little camp in a great little park. There are also possibilities to visit Nxai Pan on mobile safaris, but if you want some comfort, then this is the option to choose. Nxai Pan itself is rather small (by Botswana standards) but the government run, central waterhole is a magnet for game. You could simply sit here the whole day and watch the coming and going of a wealth of thirsty wildlife.

Fast Facts

8 thatched chalets (1 is a family unit)
18 guests Maximum
Price USD545 pppn
In the heart of Nxai Pan National Park
The only lodge option in the park
Game drives in open 4×4 vehicles
Cultural walks with bushmen
Access by road or light aircraft
Private waterhole in front of the lodge

How to Get There

You can fly into Nxai Pan Camp from any bush airstrip, or direct from Maun or Kasane. We like this camp because it is also accessible by road on a self drive safari (by prior arrangement) or as part of your itinerary on a mobile safari.

Game Viewing and Activities

Game drives are the main activity here – your guide will be accompanied by a Bushman tracker, to help spot and locate animals. The area is best known for one of the largest herds of springbok in the country, incredibly large male elephants and desert adapted predators. A resident lion pride, cheetah and leopard can be seen as well as nomadic wild dogs. Excursions are also offered to Baine’s Baobabs on the nearby salt pans.

The lodge employs some Bushmen that lead walks though the surrounding desert, explaining and demonstrating how their families survived in such a harsh environment, long before tourists came.

Game viewing in this “desert camp” can basically be categorised into 2 seasons. In the dry season (May – November), game viewing is centered around the artificial waterholes. Once good rains have fallen, the game disperses and an influx (migration) of zebra from the Chobe River area inundate the grasslands in their hundreds.

Game viewing from the lodge itself is also productive as they pump a private waterhole in front of camp.

Camp Environment

This camp has spacious chalets with thatched roofs to help keep them cool. All the rooms and the main area are raised off the ground for the same purpose. The main area has an expansive wooden deck with a welcome swimming pool. This all looks onto the camp’s distant artificial waterhole.

Nxai Pan Camp is owned by Kwando Safaris and is one of a portfolio of well located lodges owned by the same group. You can therefore pick up good discounts when combining with other related Camps on their safari circuit.