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Duba Plains is perhaps the Okavango Delta's most remote camp. It is located in a private 30 000-hectare reserve and in the furthermost region of the Delta. The camp is situated on an island, surrounded by expansive seasonally flooded plains and shaded by tall ebony, fig and garcinia trees.
This pristine area is home to Lion, Leopard, Lechwe, Elephant and huge herds of Buffalo, as well as a large variety of Okavango Delta bird life. Wattled Cranes and Slaty Egrets are some of the Okavango specials found in the area. The camp is small and intimate, with accommodation in six tented rooms. |
Each of the tents has an en-suite bathroom, with hot and cold running water, and a veranda overlooking the floodplain. The dining room and bar area is raised on decks, and there is a great pool with a view.
The camp focuses on the incredible wildlife in the area through game drives, which are conducted during the day and at night in open 4x4 vehicles. Access to the camp is by aircraft only. |
Game Viewing
The wildlife at Duba Plains has traditionally been fascinating. As the vast open grasslands and floodplains are often isolated from the mainland by deep waterways, the variety of animals is not as high as in other areas within the Okavango. However, Duba Plains has more than made up for this as it has been a high impact game viewing area. Thousands of buffalo are hunted almost daily by up to four different prides of lions. Often the hunting has been during the day - so our guests have gotten great photo opportunities. |
Lechwe, buffalo, elephant, tsessebe and warthog dot the savannah and hippo concentrate in the deeper channels. We often have productive hyena dens in the area that offer great hyena cub viewing. Leopard are found on the forested islands. Most of the Okavango Delta's birdlife is found in the area and birding "specials" like wattled crane and slaty egret are often seen. |
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Duba Plains
Duba Plains is situated in the extreme north of the Okavango, about 30km north of Mombo, in what is known locally as the Kwedi Reserve. More formally the Kwedi is known as areas NG 22 and 23. The entire area of over 100,000 hectares has been ceded by the Botswana Government and the Tawana Land Board to the people who live along the Okavango's northern boundary so that they can derive direct benefits from the wildlife and the environment on their doorstep.
These people live in five traditional villages to the north of the Okavango and the Kwedi. To ensure that the benefits from this arrangement are spread throughout all the people in this area, the annual payments we make go to a trust called The Okavango Community Trust. This trust represents the interests of all the people living in the five villages to the north of the Okavango. They also get the first job opportunities, the training and the benefits of other community projects that we run in the area from time to time. The five villages involved in this joint venture are Seronga, Gunitsoga, Eretsha, Betsha, and Gudigwa.
This trust has selected Wilderness Safaris as their joint venture partner, to run and manage the lodges and the tourism activities in this area. Along with this arrangement comes the right to hunt animals - including a large number of elephants leopard etc. Wilderness Safaris have elected NOT to hunt and in doing so we loose about US$300,000 in nett profit from the hunting operations.
The reasons we have elected not to hunt are many and varied, but one of the most important reasons is that hunting and photographic tourism cannot mix in the same area for many reasons. The animals in the area quickly cotton on that there is hunting and they either move away or become very skittish. As a result of this "no-hunting" policy in the Kwedi area (and because of the wide ranging habitats and permanent water in the floodplains) the Kwedi now has some of the best wildlife viewing in all of Botswana.
The vegetation ranges from the vast open flood plains to dense mopane bushveld and usually and historically has offered spectacular game viewing and birding opportunities all year round.
Wilderness Safaris operates camps in this area where both land and water activities can be offered. The camps are Duba Plains, Vumbura and Little Vumbura. Each of these has its own identity and character while subscribing to the very high standards set by Wilderness. |
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