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

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

per person

Experience Botswana – Beyond Wildlife

Why we love it: Unique Experiences/Funky Vibe/ Great for Families
Optional Extra: Baobab bush walk & sundowners
Best Combined With:

2 Night Okavango Explorer (Budget) – Oddballs Camp
2 Night Big Game Safari (Budget) – Khwai Guest House
2 Night Maun (Budget) – Sedia Hotel

 

Seasons Date Price (pp sharing) Single supplement
Dry Season 1 Jun, Sep – 31 Oct 24 USD  461.00 USD 57.00
Peak Season 1 Jul – 31 Aug 24 USD 468.00 USD 60.00
  • For child policy, solo traveler and where seasons crossover, please contact us.

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

  • Destination
  • Included
    2 Night Desert Explorer (Budget) – Planet Baobab – Self Drive – Dry Season
    Activities
    Local drinks
    Meals
  • Not Included
    3 Hr Maun Immersive Tour
    Breakfast
    Return Flights
    Accommodation (Dinner, Bed & Breakfast)
    Boat Cruise
    Laundry
    Park fees
    Return Transfer
    Air-conditioned vehicle
    2 Waters pp
    Lunch Pack
    Curio purchases
    Hotel transfers (can be arranged at an additional cost)
    Water
    Departure Taxes
    Traditional snack and drink
    Entry Fees
    Scheduled Group Tour
    Personal Guide
    Breakfast
1
Self Drive Directions To Planet Baobab
Please refer to additional tab for detailed self drive directions
2
Self Drive From Planet Baobab
Please refer to additional tab for detailed self drive directions

TOUR LOCATION

The Makgadikgadi Salt Pans are all that remains of a great lake which once covered most of northern Botswana, fed by rivers carrying salts. The most iconic pans, Ntwetwe and Sua Pan provide vistas of blinding white salt flats reaching far into the horizon where pans sleep-outs are experienced. No vegetation grows on the salty surface of the pans, but the fringes are covered with grasslands. No animals live on the pans, save a few populations of desert species and the elusive brown hyena living near the fringes. The result is that the salt pans provide an unforgettable landscape experience of incredible sunsets and sunrises and a bewildering lack of perspective rather than a game experience. Africa’s famous explorer Dr. David Livingstone crossed these pans in the 19th century, using two massive baobabs, believed to be 3,000 to 4,000 years old as a navigation tool. All camps on the salt pans are situated on or next to Ntwetwe Pan in the west of the pans complex and offer quad biking on the pans, visits to habituated meerkats, archaeological walks as well as cultural insight into the lives of the San people. More recently horse-riding expeditions have been made possible, providing a unique way to explore the landscape. All activities in this area are subject to favourable conditions as the slightest rainfall can make the pans completely inaccessible. During the rainy season, the main attraction of these camps is the zebra and wildebeest migration passing through during the early months of the year with other activities during this season being very limited. During years of good rains, the pans can be transformed into a powder blue lake with waters gently lapping the shorelines – a clear indication of the gigantic lake the Makgadikgadi once was. The floods attract flamingos with numbers running into the tens or even hundreds of thousands but the spectacle is fleeting and difficult to catch.

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ADDITIONAL INFO

 
Planet Baobab Overview Planet Baobab Website
Area  Outskirts of Gweta Village, bordering the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans
Accommodation 18 rooms / 3 family
Age Restrictions All ages, but age restrictions on activities
Self-Drive Access Yes
Charging Facilities & Wi-Fi Both Charging facilities & Wi-Fi
Pool Yes
Laundry Service Available Available for own account
Mosquito Nets Yes
Air-Cons or Fans Fans
Activities Game drives, Meerkat experience, Cattle post & Village tours, Bush walks. Sleep-out on the pans is offered but weather dependent and only if the pans are dry, if the pans are still wet/damp the sleep outs could be cancelled
   

DETAILED SELF DRIVE DIRECTIONS

Directions - Maun International Airport [MUB] to Planet Baobab - Full Board | Distance: 210.01km         Travel Time: 2:21 hours

GPS co-ordinates for Planet Baobab - Full Board: S 20° 11' 20.645" E 25° 18' 19.973"

 
  • Head southeast on Airport Rd toward Sir Seretse Khama Rd (0.3 km)
  • Turn right onto Sir Seretse Khama Rd (0.9 km)
  • At the roundabout, take the 1st exit onto Sekgoma Rd/A3 (1.5 km)
  • Turn right to stay on Sekgoma Rd/A3. Continue to follow A3 (202 km)
  • Turn right (0.3 km)
  • Turn left at the 1st cross street (4.6 km)
  • Turn right (31 m)
  • Turn right (0.2 km)