Breathtaking Plains and Wildlife Galore
Set on the plains of the Okavango Delta, with woodlands filled with large ebony, fig and garcinia trees encroaching on expansive floodplains, swamps and waterways brimming with wildlife, the Duba Plains Concession’s 33,000-hectare reserve is perfectly central to all the wildlife action.
Owned by the National Geographic filmmakers, conservationists and explorers, Dereck and Beverly Joubert, the setting was particularly sought out due to the fact that the sheer volume of game in this area is comparable to the Kenyan Maasai Mara.
Known for its wildlife, remoteness and exclusivity, this area of Botswana is home to an explosive mix of predator and prey, and Duba Plains prides itself on offering guests intimate and up-close wildlife spotting opportunities.
View swamp swimming lions, birdlife soaring through the sky and antelope trying to shake off their stalkers by moonlight during your stay. You are likely to also spot leopard, elephant, buffalo, aardwolf, pangolin and everything in between.
“I am not a religious person, but I now understand that Duba Plains is the Garden of Eden.”
Privacy, Comfort and Luxury
The accommodation at the Duba Plains Concession blends eco-conscious comfort and style with the utmost luxury – without forgetting the most important element of safari accommodation: uninterrupted views, and direct access to the great outdoors.
There are three different camp options available as part of the Concession.
Take in the varied landscape and the parading wildlife from your classic 1920s African safari style suite in the Duba Plains Camp. Each suite has been beautifully crafted with everyday essentials and luxurious fixtures including a bath for opulent bathing, environmentally friendly air-conditioning and your own private verandah, accompanied by a crystal blue plunge pool.
The Duba Plains Suite is situated on a raised platform, made from a recycled railway sleeper’s decking, and offers guests fabulous views of the land below. This 2-bedroom suite includes a wrap-around verandah, a plunge pool and access to a private vehicle, guide, host and chef, along with the other luxurious features of the camp.
The Duba Explorers Camp sits tucked away in the northeastern corner of the Concession, where permanent floodplains dominate the landscape, awaiting worthy travellers to uncover it. The camp’s location provides guests with panoramic views of the surrounding water channels, as well as a break from the heat, as a cool breeze runs off the water into the camp, and the mature jackalberry, leadwood, mangosteen, and sycamore-fig trees offer shelter from the blazing sun. The camp consists of only four airy canvas tents on raised decking, and allows guests to absorb the utter peacefulness and quiet of the surroundings.
Up Close and Personal With Wondrous Wildlife
The Concession offers guests a great variety of activities that allow them to come face to face with the exquisite wildlife of the region.
Take a thrilling game drive from dawn to dusk and into the night to spot lechwe, buffalo, elephant, tsessebe and warthog grazing across the savannah under the blaze of the sun, and uncover glimmering eyes of nocturnal wildlife throughout the plains in the shadow of the moon.
Water levels permitting, guests can explore the water channels by boat or traditional canoes (mokoro). Taking a mokoro to meander through the channels created by hippos and elephants is a wonderfully unique experience, as it allows you to glide silently through the water and come across unsuspecting wildlife.
Whilst on board, enjoy the excitement of catch and release fishing and view the various delta fish species up close and personal.
This area also offers premium bird watching, with regular sightings of spectacular species like the malachite kingfisher, amongst the other 400 species of birds haunting the skies.
Guests also rave about the guided walks and explorations of the many different landscapes and islands, in which they have the unique opportunity to follow tracks and interpret signs that the beasts leave behind.
Conservation Tourism at Heart
Over their many years of filming, exploring and making conservation efforts, owners of Duba Plains, Dereck and Beverly Joubert have seen many species being taken to the brink of extinction, and habitats being wiped out through human abuse.
When creating their camps, they aimed to craft quality tourism experiences that are also environmentally sound, with the benefits going specifically into making the conservation of an area viable and sustainable.
Some of their projects under the banner of Great Plains Conservation include the Rhinos Without Borders project, which aims to translocate threatened rhinos from poaching hot zones to safe havens, as well as the Great Plains Student Conservation Camp, in which they reach out to local students and teachers, and provide ways for the youth to engage with the natural world and the local professionals who protect it.
Get a taste for the experience by watching the National Geographic documentaries, Relentless Enemies, The Last Lions and the Okavango River of Dream series, all of which were filmed in the Duba Plains Reserve by Dereck and Beverly Joubert.
Images © IMDB