Tau Pan
Exclusive access to the central areas of the Kalahari
From $670 per person
Offering the following
4 STAR
Dry Camp
Safari Lifestyles View
Tau Pan is one of two new camps in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, as such they are the only lodges that give you access to the central areas in the style of comfortable accommodation, the other camp is Kalahari Plains.
Tau Pan is a completely solar powered camp and is well placed to undertake your dry camp activities, which include game drives and bush walks with the local bushmen.
The lodge is constructed in a similar way to the management company’s sister camp, Nxai Pan Lodge which sits in the Nxai Pan National Park to the north of the Kalahari, and is designed to reflect its environment and affords you fantastic views over the Kalahari.
The best time to visit this camp is in the summer months when the rains increase the herds of springbok and gemsbok hugely. The Kalahari is such a vast area that you have to be patient with your predators, they are here but it depends where they are moving through.
Gallery
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Video
Wildlife
“Kalahari” is derived from the Tswana word Kgala meaning “great thirst” – and it has vast areas without any permanent water. The term ‘desert,’ is however not quite accurate when referring to the Kalahari, the region receives an annual rainfall of 60mm-175mm, too high to be classified as a true desert.
The Kalahari’s vegetation consists mainly of grasses and acacia’s, as well as stunted thorn and scrub bush. There are over 400 identified plant species present. Annual rain season is between December and March when summer temperatures can get quite high. After the summer rains – the CKGR completely transforms as the blue sky fills with huge clouds, and the plains and pans burst with sweet grasses.
This is one of the best game viewing areas in Botswana at this time of year and not many people to seem to aware of this – so you can be one of the few visitors to watch the famed black maned lions stalking herds of gemsbok and springbok.. The dry season (May-September) is also a wonderful time to visit the CKGR as the animals congregate close to any surface water and pans.
Game Drives
Bushmen
Sleep Outs
Overview
Tau Pan accommodates up to eighteen guests in specially designed thatched units on raised decks. The camp offers truly incredible views from the ridge of an ancient sand dune, an unusual experience in a land as flat as Botswana, and overlooks the famous Tau Pan – recognised for its stark beauty and remoteness.
This, the first safari camp to be built in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, is a model of environmental sensitivity. As with its sister camp, Nxai Pan, Tau Pan has been constructed with the delicate ecologies in mind. Both utilise only solar power for the generation of electricity, heating of water and pumping of water from deep under the Kalahari sands. Waste water is treated in a state-of-the-art sewerage treatment plant and the fully treated water is returned to the sands from whence it came.
This camp is similar to design and build as Nxai Pan Lodge, in that it is built with solid walls and thatch but with a very open feel. The main living area is the central point of course, but the accommodation stretches out in an imposing fashion and takes full advantage of the spectacular views of the Kalahari scrub in front of camp.
Like Nxai Pan, the lodge is a long narrow curve completely open at the front for the views over the decking. Also similarly, there is a large dining area at one end and a bar at the other although this lodge feels bigger and the furniture is more African in style and less modern in nature.
Outside and to one side you step down to a lovely decked plunge pool area with sun loungers. Out on to the veranda from the front of the lodge is a decked fire pit with seating and is a focal area for nightly chats around the fire or just gazing up at the incredible star-scape.
Room Description
Guests are accommodated in 8 rooms under thatch, designed and built to remain cool in the summer months and warm in winter.
Each room is en-suite with a separate flushing toilet, double sinks and an inside and outside shower. The rooms are airy and spacious with large double or twin beds, a lounge area and a viewing deck that has amazing views of the wide open spaces and beautiful big skies that this area possesses – truly special and captivating.
One of the rooms, situated close to the main area is a family room. This unit has an extra room with twin beds, in all other respects the family room is identical to the other rooms.
2023 Pricing
Prices are per person per night sharing
Please note: These are retail rates and should be seen as indicative, and they can change. All rates are subject to availability. Safari Lifestyles will guarantee that our rates will be lower than retail rates.
contact us for single traveller prices.
All Year
$670
For this camp please enquire about the SPECIAL PRICE between the dates 15th November and 31st March
Contact us for further information
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