Most of Botswana is dry desert, minus the beautifully green and luscious Okavango Delta. It is a wild and unkempt land, much of it dedicated to conservation, and none of it (as of 2014) reserved for hunting. Botswana is one of the most rewarding game viewing locations on earth, every region celebrated for its astounding beauty and its representation of untainted Africa.
The semi-arid Central Kalahari is the world’s second largest game reserve (after the Selous in Tanzania) and occupies the middle of the country where it houses some of the most resilient species on earth. Just on its northern border, beneath the Okavango River, lies Haina Kalahari Lodge. A luxury desert lodge, offering a tranquil solace amid the wildlings of the earth.
Exiting the private reserve Haina calls its home and entering the neighbouring Central Kalahari Game Reserve opens this enormous wildlife wonderland for game drives in open 4×4 vehicles. This is just one of the invigorating activities conducted at Haina, under the expert leadership of passionate general managers, Wanda and Adriaan.
Individual bedrooms at at Haina in the Kalahari.
Dining in the boma.
Walking on the wild side
For thousands of years, the Bushmen have called this home. The desert might seem a dust bowl of dehydration, but to the men and women who have raised generations living off the land under the Kalahari sun, this is a world full of opportunity. In recent decades, the Bushmen were forced to adapt to modern farming practices, but here in the Kalahari is a clan of Bushmen who practice their traditional way of life. Learn how to track, hunt, build fires, and survive like the indigenous humans of this continent.
Quad bikes calling
When last did you really put foot? To plant yourself in a 4-wheeler and zoom through the Kalahari with the wind in your hair has got to be one of the real pleasures in life. Haina has got a couple of quad bikes for just these occasions. Leaving the lodge and setting out on this thrill-seeking adventure takes you where the wild things roam. The game is around you, pausing, mid-graze, to check you out on your smaller-than-usual vehicle. What a feeling to see giraffe from only a few feet off the ground.
Camping in the desert
Haina has beautifully constructed individual bedrooms complete with wooden decks, ensuite bathrooms, and beds laden with pure cotton and cushions. But you could give that up for a night under the stellar extravaganza that is the Kalahari night sky. You drive into the game reserve and, after a day of admiring the laziness of the black-maned lion, set up camp between a couple of camel thorn trees. A caravan is brought along, containing all the goodies required for a seamless night in the bush. Pitch canvas safari tents, light a roaring campfire, keep a torch close at hand, and look up and appreciate the sky.
Endangered cat species flourish here. Cheetahs have their wide open plains; an unending playground for the fastest mammal in the world. Black-maned lions and formidable lionesses breed the future kings of the Kalahari; a special population of lion that has adapted to survive the harsh conditions over years of evolution.
Leopards, bat-eared foxes and brown hyenas; honey badgers, ostriches, porcupines and jackals; these are creatures of the night, frequently visiting the Haina waterhole, offering excitement even on those quiet nights at the lodge. After a lively dinner around the dancing flames of the boma fire, peer out at the waterhole and watch for the shining eyes of nocturnal desert life. The perceived safety of the morning brings kudu, wildebeest, zebra, and gemsbok, accompanied by raptors perching in high branches, their eyes darting across the ground. There’s never a dull moment in the Botswana desert.
Images by Em Gatland.
