Sublime Wilderness at Jack's Camp

Great destination! Enjoyed the open trail and peaceful outdoor atmosphere.

First of all, the room environment was first-class, the sound level was excellent, and all the staff were very friendly. We explored the local indigenous area and saw adorable meerkat (lions), and even saw a Leo hunting as soon as we landed – we saw lions for several days in a row. Of course, the availability of animals in nature is unpredictable, so this average rating only applies to the hotel.

Jack’s Camp is the kind of place where the wild doesn’t just surround you, it introduces itself, one story at a time. Set in the vast silence of the Makgadikgadi Pans, the camp feels almost otherworldly. Here, the horizon stretches endlessly, and the landscape holds a quiet drama that reveals itself through the expertise of the camp’s exceptional guides. Among them are the legendary “Chemical” a nickname given to a group of highly skilled, deeply knowledgeable guides whose passion turns every outing into a vivid, living classroom. With them, the desert speaks. They track the remarkable Zebra Migration, one of Africa’s lesser-known yet breathtaking wildlife movements, where thousands of zebras traverse the pans in search of greener pastures. It’s a spectacle of instinct and survival, made richer by the stories and insights the guides share. Equally enchanting are the encounters with Meerkat colonies. Sitting quietly as these curious creatures approach and climb onto you is both surreal and deeply personal, a rare connection between human and wild. Jack’s Camp is not just about seeing wildlife. It’s about understanding it, feeling it, and leaving with a sense that the desert has shared something meaningful with you.

Great destination! Enjoyed the open trail and peaceful outdoor atmosphere.

We stayed in five camps in Zimbabwe/Botswana: Matetsi (Zimbabwe/Victoria Falls - our overall rating is 4.5 out of 5 stars), Duma Tao (Chobe - 5 out of 5 stars), Vumbura Plains (Okavango Delta - 5 out of 5 stars), Jao Camp (Okavango Delta - 5 out of 5 stars), and Jacks Camp (Kalahari Desert/Plains - see rating below). All camps except Jacks belong to Wilderness and were consistently excellent. Jacks Camp is about 50% (!) more expensive per person per day than all the other camps. Jacks Camp failed to meet expectations in any way. The price/performance ratio is completely inadequate. We would like to emphasize that the staff always did their best and were very friendly and welcoming. Upon arrival at Jacks, one initially has the positive impression of having arrived at a tented camp straight out of "Lawrence of Arabia." Inside the main area, you enter a desert version of a cross between Balmoral Castle and the National Geographic Museum. At first glance, this sounds original and unique, but it's only in a negative way. Unfortunately, the entire interior is very dated, worn, dusty, and in some places smells unpleasant and musty. All the furniture is old, not necessarily antique, and dilapidated. The main area and bar are teeming with artifacts and skeletons—unmaintained, excessive, and unpleasant. The furniture and fabrics in the tents are often worn, and the bottles in the bar are dusty. In the so-called tea tent, you sit on the floor on old carpets and cushions in need of mending; you'd rather not know when the carpets were last cleaned. A dust mite paradise. In the dining room, there's one large table where everyone always eats together, all meals. We were the only guests in the camp (perhaps telling), so the staff ate with us. There's no individuality or private tables in this area. An anachronism that bears no resemblance to the spacious and tastefully furnished common areas and rooms of the Wilderness Camps. Someone is clinging to their past here without investing in its upkeep. The guest tents are large, dusty, and dilapidated. The bathrooms are appalling; the toilet is a converted wooden latrine—the worst hygiene we've experienced in a long time. The sink fixtures are old, and the water is slow to turn on. The towels are of dishcloth quality. The bathrobes are synthetic and appear to have been washed in a while. See details below. The food is average, with little choice, nothing special, and no flavor. Meals are eaten together at one huge table with the staff. No individual attention. An outrage. See details below. Wildlife is limited: zebras and wildebeest, but no cats. A Bushman walk and a visit to see meerkats are quite nice. Otherwise, it's just steppe and dried-up lakebeds. Nothing compared to the Okavango Delta. Overall conclusion: Jacks Camp is an outrage in terms of value for money, no luxury, no comparison to Wilderness Camps, not even remotely. Endless deferred maintenance, a quirky, bizarre concept. The staff aren't to blame, but the owners and investors who are ripping off their guests are. Natural Selection will be a no-go for us forever, as will our own travel agency. Such a blunder simply shouldn't happen when they supposedly know all the camps. The Kalahari destination is generally not worth visiting; you can really skip it. I sincerely apologize to the staff for this harsh overall assessment. But such disappointments and rip-offs don't create sustainable tourism success. See the reviews of the excellent Wilderness Camps there. They made Botswana unique; Jacks is dragging it down. One last word of caution: When checking other reviews, please pay attention to their age and authorship (mostly locals...). The rating system is completely fake. Hands off! Details about rooms, food, and wildlife can be found below.