How the other half 'safari': I visited a royal-approved camp hidden in the middle of the desert quite unlike anything I've ever seen - and even the meerkat is world famous
Proper news from Britain - News from Britain you won’t find anywhere else. Not the tosh the big media force-feed you every day!
A meerkat is standing on my head.
Wangu 'Prince' Moatswi, our friendly young guide, says it's nothing to be alarmed by; meerkats like to scamper to the top of the tallest thing around them to look out for predators. With the surrounding Makgadikgadi salt pan in north-eastern Botswana among the flattest places I've been, even an extra 175cm atop a human offers a commanding view.
Maghogho, as the meerkat is known, is particularly used to humans. Starring in a 2020 BBC documentary with Sir David Attenborough, she regularly greets visitors from nearby Jack's Camp - and doesn't hop off until I lie on the ground.
The meerkat encounter would be a highlight of any African safari. But Jack's Camp can be described as the vintage, luxury safari camp Indiana Jones would design - and every activity has a glamourous, cinematic sheen.
The adventure begins even before the white 14-seater, whirring propeller-powered plane lands on a dusty airstrip deep in the Kalahari, one of the world's largest deserts. The 45-minute flight from the city of Maun is how most people get to Jack's Camp.
As we fly, the trees below gradually thin, the deep green crisscrossed by blue ribbons of water giving way to a seemingly endless sheet of brown hues, like a humongous Anzac biscuit. Occasionally we see lumbering elephant herds, though from our airborne vantage point they seem little more than grey ants.
Stepping off the plane on a cloudless, hot day, the first thing I notice is the smell hanging in the air. The aroma is rich, earthy. A gentle breeze occasionally picks up - it's very refreshing amid the dry desert heat.
It's a short, 20-minute drive to the camp from the airstrip in a comfortable Land Rover. The Land Rovers - outfitted with cushioned seats, canopies to keep the sun off, binoculars, and abundant drinks and snacks like dried mangoes, apple slices and biltong (dried, cured meat, popular in southern Africa) - are also used for daily excursions to see wild animals.
The olive-green tents and leafy palm trees of Jack's rise up like a shimmering mirage. The solar-powered, exclusive camp is next to a natural watering hole, around which wildebeest, zebras, ostriches, and elephants drink and frolic at all hours. Despite so many large animals, they never seem too noisy.
It is also difficult discerning what might be a mirage indoors. Every tent is filled with artefacts in antique, dark wooden cabinets, like being in a museum. In fact, Jack's is also a registered private museum. Many of the artefacts - grinning crocodile, hyena and lion skulls, ostrich eggs, tools used by local San people, old photographs and paintings, and other objects - were personally collected by the camp's namesake, crocodile catcher and legendary adventurer Jack Bousfield.
Some of the artefacts are labelled as dating to the 1600s. Many of the hardcover books that guests can read have 1800s publication dates.
Some of Jack's artefacts can be purchased, too. A shop - with a real elephant skull inside - sells handmade wooden statues, masks, even ostrich eggshell bracelets. It's also the only place in camp with regular Wi-Fi.
Beyond the exotic artefacts, the eyes go everywhere. The tents themselves were handmade in Morocco before being shipped down across Africa to Botswana.
'Colour is important in a desert,' explains owner Ralph Bousfield, Jack's son, of the green exterior and orange interior patterns of the tents.
Jack's was renovated in 2020, but retains its Old World, Victorian feel. Plush Persian and North African rugs sit atop hardwood floors. There's seemingly enough red velvet furniture to film an entire season of a period drama without reusing locations.
'Handcrafted is very rooted in our culture,' explains camp manager Ben Mogalakwe. 'We won't replace things with plastic, mass-produced items. There's a quality to meet, and sustainability is key.'
The nine guest tents are stuffed with books and artefacts, too, and are huge, each encompassing at least 270 square metres. The entryway of the tent my partner and I stay in leads to a furniture-filled, boudoir-esque parlour. It connects to a bedroom with two four-poster king beds. The orange linens matching the tent walls, the beds are framed by wispy, billowy sheer drapes - the kind of picture that comes to mind when imagining safari romance and cosy nights amid wild nature.
The tent's bedroom also connects to the bathroom. With a vintage shower with brass fittings, vanities with carved wood backsplashes, in-house brand Uncharted Africa Safari Co. toiletries, and red velvet chaise longue in the centre of the large room, it too conjures images of rugged days of outdoor adventure and sensual evenings ripped straight from the pages of a romance novel. The hardwood floors even feel buttery-soft under bare feet.
'Safaris now aren't just about animals,' says Ben. 'It's also about the culture. You guide people, you host people, and hope they never forget you.'
This is evident in the activities on offer. One morning we walk with a group of San people. As we talk, we come across a yellow scorpion, almost as big as my palm. 'Would you like to hold it?' an elderly man asks. He says it's perfectly safe.
It's surprising how still the scorpion is in my hand. However, I am grateful not to be stung.
One evening we enjoy snacks and cocktails and watch the golden sun sink below the horizon at a romantic table set up in the middle of the desert. After, a campfire crackles and keeps us warm as temperatures drop. So many twinkling stars come out it's possible to see without a torch.
Another evening, we wrap red linen kikoys around our heads and race thundering quad bikes across the vast, flat, alien terrain of the Makgadikgadi Pans - a salt pan that today is all that remains of an ancient lake that was bigger than Switzerland.
At one point we stop to take photos that play with perspective, alternately looking like giants holding each other in our hands. The photos are possible thanks to the area's extreme flatness.
Other activities include helicopter tours soaring over the desert, horseback rides, massages, and of course game drives to see what animals we can spot.
'This area's basically straight out of The Lion King,' says Prince the morning we meet Maghogho and the rest of her family of fuzzy meerkats.
It's surprising how full of life the desert is. Like at the watering hole, we spot great herds of horned wildebeest, striped zebras, deer-like springboks, gaggles of feathered ostriches, and more. Big, black vultures soar silently high overhead in the brilliant blue sky - though we also see dozens of them feasting on a dead wildebeest. We see predators like little, furry foxes. One morning we find lion tracks - but don't discover where the lions went to.
We also encounter elephants. Prince says the trees - there are a few of them here, in twisted shapes and covered in thorns that make them seem otherworldly - are sometimes reused for tent poles at Jack's when the colossal creatures knock down
Back at camp, afternoon siestas are often spent in our tent's private plunge pool (each tent has one), or swimming in the actual pool tent. This is followed by daily 4pm high tea in the Persian tea tent, removing our shoes and reclining on soft, spongy cushions to enjoy tea, coffee, and biscuits and cucumber sandwiches while drinking in the panoramic view of the earth-toned landscape and watering hole.
Adventures of a different sort are also had at mealtimes. Meals are served with silver cutlery and crystal glasses - and taken around a 36-seat mahogany table. Menus include scones with sugary jam at breakfast, salade niçoise with black olives and juicy tomatoes for a lunch and tender chicken ballotine for white tablecloth dinnertime mains. Desserts include the likes of creamy tiramisu and homemade chocolate ice cream with chocolate sauce and chocolate chips. Additionally, there's a never-ending supply of syrupy-sweet, fresh fruit juice and lemonade.
'The food's part of what makes the difference - we want it to be an experience,' Ben says.
Our fellow guests join us at meals: one family arrived by private jet from the UK. Another man's the CEO of a major American e-commerce website. Other Jack's Camp guests have included A-list celebrities and European and Middle Eastern royals.
Ben regales us with tales of desert adventure and animal encounters during a dinner of lamb shanks with mashed potatoes and eggplant parmigiana. The flickering candlelight casts dancing shadows on the mess tent's walls, complemented by the sounds of palm trees rustling in the wind, tents billowing gently, and the occasional elephant toots.
Suddenly, a large porcupine slowly waddles into the tent and up to our table, compelled either by the smell of food or Ben's storytelling, as if by an invisible, occult hand.
There are gasps. But Ben says the prickly newcomer is a regular guest who simply isn't very good at confirming dinner reservations.
'We're on safari,' he reminds us.
Encountering the unexpected comes with the territory.
Jack's Camp starts from US $1,995 (AUD $3,119) per night. Jack's Private Camp starts at US $7,085 (AUD $11,028) per night.
