Natural Selection’s Jack’s Camp in the Makgadikgadi, Botswana has been “reimagined” and rebuilt and will reopen with a new look in January 2021 to celebrate the camp’s 25th anniversary.
The “brand-new” Jack’s Camp pays homage to the property by maintaining its 1940s campaign style. The rebuild was overseen by owner and founder, Ralph Bousfield. The camp has nine safari tents that are more than double the size of the former tents, with an interior floor area of 1,400 square feet. The tents will retain the same traditional dark green exterior canvas and interior lining. Furnished with antiques that have been passed down through generations of the Bousfield family, the new larger guest tents will each have its own “miniature natural history museum,” comprising a cabinet with curiosities, ranging from stone tools to fossils. Seven twin tents have two queen size beds, while two double tents have extra-length king beds. Each tent can accommodate a child on a third day bed in the living room.
New textiles come from India and Morocco and cushions and bedspreads are all sewn by hand at Bousfield’s family home. The guest tents will have both indoor and outdoor showers and an overhead cooling system for the bed area. Private plunge pools (half outdoor-half indoor) are also included with each tent. Tip: The deck can also double as a setting for an al fresco massage.
The new, larger mess tent, which is a Natural History Museum in Botswana, will retain much of its original look and feel. Framed Peter Beard pictures sit alongside original posters from French taxidermist, Deyrolle, which hang side by side with Bousfield family photos. The iconic stuffed aardvark has retained pride of place alongside the cabinets of curiosities. The mess tent includes the library, tea tent and drinks tent.
In addition, the pool pavilion now has a sundeck and the Jack’s Camp shop has been renovated and restocked.
Jack’s Camp is the only operator for almost 100 miles. At lunar-like salt pans of the Makgadikgad, guests can quad bike out into the remnants of the super lake, hunt for stone tools in the crusty salt flats or see the world through the eyes of the Bushmen.
Good to know: The new Jack’s Camp will employ the very latest ‘’clean and green’’ solar technology. The entire camp runs on solar power, including the new air-conditioning units (‘Evening Breeze’) in the guest tents. In addition, 1.5 percent of all revenue generated by Natural Selection’s camps goes back to local conservation projects.
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