2 Night Desert Explorer (Budget) – Planet Baobab – Self Drive – Dry Season

Experience Botswana – Beyond Wildlife

Includes: dinner, bed & breakfast, 1xlunch, specified activities and intermittent wifi
Excludes: drinks, laundry and additional activities, transfers
Activities: quad bike and Ntwetwe pan overnight, habitual meerkat visit (all activities are dependent on weather conditions and access to Pans)
Quad bike trips – TWO guests per quad bike only. Children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult.
Note: This is a self-drive package excluding car hire(available on request). Please see directions and estimated driving times under additional information.

Situated close to the village of Gweta, (also charmingly known as “The Place of the Bullfrogs”), on the Francistown-Maun Road and sheltered by a grove of gigantic baobabs, Planet Baobab offers a welcoming base from which to explore the Makgadikgadi Pans system. Planet Baobab combines style with comfort whilst remaining true to its traditional African inspiration.

Accommodation styles vary, with Bushman grass huts, palatial Kalanga mud huts (with en-suite bathrooms) traditionally painted with amazing designs and a shady campsite where you can pitch your own tents.  Except for the family room, all the huts have two single beds on opposite ends of the room which are fixed in place. Activities include an overnight trip to Ntwetwe Pan with knowledgeable guides.  When the pans are dry and weather permits, guests’ quad bike to the pans.  Here you can discover the geological origins of what was once the world’s largest ever super lake and you can follow the Palm Trail created by elephant droppings as these ancient creatures trekked across the arid waste when the super lake dried up. In addition, you may book optional activities such as a cattle post visit with lunch, baobab bush walks, migration mission day trip.  These are all optional and come at an additional cost. Ntwetwe Pan and Sua Pan, together with numerous smaller pans, form the Makgadikgadi Pans system. The pans are the remnants of the once great Lake Makgadikgadi: 80,000 square kilometers in expanse and up to 30 meters deep – this was the largest inland sea in Africa.

The pans form a spectacular lunar landscape in the dry season and in the wet season, this vast area of salt pans interspersed with low-lying grass islands is the destination of herds of migrating zebra.  It has an un-spoilt beauty unlike any other part of Africa. Please note: All activities are subject to seasonal availability and weather conditions during the month of travel.  Pans sleep outs and quad bike activities do not operate in the wet season and may also be halted after unexpected rains, when wet conditions prevent access to the pans.  In the case where guests cannot do the sleep out activity, back up lodge accommodation in dome tents are available at the lodge.  Some activities will need to be pre-booked before travel.  Quad bike trips run with TWO guests per quad bike.  Children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult.

Virtual Itinerary