Great Plains Selinda Explorers Camp Aerial

Welcome to Selinda Explorers Camp

Discover the hidden secrets of wild Africa in the time-old tradition of the continent’s great explorers…

“Selinda Explorer’s Camp is where you can sit with your feet in the sand and listen to or tell stories of your safari adventures in an intimate camp built near the ground.” Dereck continues, “In fact, this Explorer Collection safari camp follows the kind of camps Beverly, and I have used for filming or research our whole lives. And yet, although offering an affordable Botswana safari experience, the camp has Persian carpets, exudes a real explorer’s camp feel, includes a lot of brass and copper, and is handmade by us just for you.”

Selinda Explorers Camp is located in the private 130,000-hectare (320,000-acre) Selinda Reserve of northern Botswana. The camp accommodates only ten guests and is built on the banks of Botswana’s Selinda Spillway.

This safari camp is currently closed whilst we add new furniture and décor in the camp’s central area, the three standard guest tents, and the 2-bedroomed family tent. Each guest tent will also have small verandas added with views toward the Selinda Spillway. All the bathrooms in the guest tents will also be fully enclosed upon reopening.

The standard guest tents reopen on the 9th of April 2023, and the 2-bedroomed family tent reopens on the 28th of April.

Read more

Subtly placed under the shade of the riverine forest, the camp’s style is reminiscent of early African explorers’ philosophies and practices. Whiling away afternoons under the canopy of African ebony and Mopane trees, interspersed with guided walks, canoeing, and early morning and late afternoon / early evening wildlife drives, make this affordable Botswana safari camp a respite from the ‘daily grind’ of a traditional safari.

This authentic tented camp draws on the classic East African safari traditions with beautifully detailed campaign-style furniture made from recycled hardwoods and soft furnishings from Zanzibar and the East.

The four custom-designed, semi-permanent guest tents provide comfort and style but with a magnificently raw spirit. Each tent offers guests a well-appointed bedroom, covered veranda, and private ‘bustani bathroom’ complete with hot water showers and a flush loo. All the guest tents are at ground level, on slightly raised platforms.

In early 2023, Selinda Explorers Camp will close for a short period. We will be adding a brand new kitchen to the camp whilst adding completely new bathroom layouts to all the guest tents and river-facing verandas to each tent.

Selinda Explorers Camp is an unassuming camp, light on its footprint but heavy on its experiential luxury. The atmosphere of the camp is one of bush elegance with a relaxed style, complemented by attentive staff, private, professional service and fabulous food.

Selinda Explorers Camp is an ideal property for those guests who want to experience Botswana’s extraordinary wildlife but in the most private setting, taking advantage of an affordable Botswana safari experience cost. Selinda Explorers Camp is perfect for individual travellers, couples, families and small groups of up to ten guests sharing.

The camp sits in prime predator habitat, in a handpicked location based on Dereck and Beverly Joubert, Great Plains Conservation owners and National Geographic Explorers, exploring the area for years. Lion, leopard, cheetah, and the recently discovered Explorers Pack of African wild dogs hunt these parts regularly. There are possible sightings of good densities of giraffe, buffalo (in the dry season), and antelope – including roan and sable and recently spotted eland. In September, over 9,000 elephants traverse the private Selinda Reserve at the peak of the dry season. There is phenomenal birdlife along the Selinda Spillway’s banks for those looking for some ‘lifers’.

This camp, an Explorer Collection member of the Great Plains Conservation portfolio, combines beautifully with Duba Explorers Camp in the Duba Plains Reserve of the northern Okavango Delta.

Engaging youth in local communities living alongside conserved land is critical to long-term conservation. Our conservation education programs engage youth with the natural world at a pivotal time in their lives. Great Plains Conservation believes that through thoughtful engagement, environmental education, fun and mentorship, youth in nearby communities can learn to appreciate their ecosystems’ uniqueness and become conservation champions. Great Plains Student Conservation Camps are one of our longest-running community programs. Since the program began more than ten years ago, hundreds of children have benefitted from the program in both Kenya and Botswana. Botswana’s annual residential “kids camps” were held at Selinda Explorers Camp for years!

Selinda Explorers Gallery

In addition to our own programs, Great Plains Foundation keeps a list of school needs in the countries where we work.

Needed items can be hand-carried by travellers or we can help purchase them locally. To learn more or to help support students and educators as part of your trip please reach out to info@greatplainsfoundation.com