Duba Plains Suite

The Duba Plains Suite is designed to accommodate four adult guests or a family of up to five. The villa is spacious and designed with privacy and comfort in mind. The indoor dining area is located at the villa’s core and leads to the two luxurious lounge areas on either side. The two bedrooms both have their own private verandahs and swimming pools, and a separate central deck area where guests can relax together. Both rooms have en-suite facilities, which include a flush toilet, double basins, large and relaxing bathtubs, and both indoor and outdoor showers. Above the enormous guest beds, there will be an eco-friendly air-conditioning system, and ceiling fans are also fitted to ensure that the room stays at a comfortable temperature. The Duba Plains Suite stands upon a raised deck, made from recycled materials, which provides beautiful views of the rich Okavango Delta wildlife, and this can be best enjoyed from the comfort of the private under-cover sala rest area. Guests staying at the Duba Plains Suite, are also able to appreciate the services of their own private game drive vehicle with a personal guide as well as a host and chef.

The camp’s Executive Chef and their team will provide you with three delectable meals each day, on a schedule to suit you. Meals are served both in the indoor dining area or can be delivered directly to your room. Guests can also choose to dine outside and enjoy the spectacular views of the Delta, its wildlife and the African stars. Picnic breakfasts and lunches can be brought out to you in the bush during a game drive, and all dietary requirements can be catered for as long as prior notification is given. Drinks and beverages are included and are supplied by the Duba Plains Camp’s very own wine cellar which holds a vast selection of delicious South African wines, imported spirits and champagnes.

Get the most out of the safari experience with your own private guide and safari vehicle. Your guide will be able to tailor the game drives to your desires and teach you more about your favourite game and predators. The custom-built Land Cruiser is perfect for travelling through the marshlands, and the fold-down screens provide ideal conditions for photographers. Drives usually start at either early morning or late afternoon, but guests are also free to stay in the bush throughout the day, making the most of their time at Duba Plains Reserve, and their guide’s extensive knowledge. Picnics can be delivered for breakfast or lunch, and the vehicles are fully stocked with refreshing drinks. Night drives are also available for those wishing to seek out the reserve’s nocturnal species.

Duba Plains Suite’s location within the conservancies makes it the ideal place for taking a guided walk. Venture out with a licensed guide with firearm training and a vast range of wildlife knowledge, and learn to recognise the tracks and marks left by various species. Without the sound and size limitations of the safari vehicles, walks allow you to sneak up close to the wildlife and get a real idea of how these astonishing creatures act in their natural environment. Watch families of elephants, or herds of zebra, go through their daily motions. It is recommended to take good walking shoes, neutral coloured clothing, sun protection and binoculars. Your guide will provide water for you.

Boating is a seasonal activity due to the fluctuating water levels of the Okavango Delta, and can usually be enjoyed between May and October. Speed along the Delta’s matrix of waterways and discover the various beautiful species of birdlife, as well as the occasional hippo, buffalo and elephant. Get a sense of the sheer size of the Okavango Delta, and lose yourself in the vast landscape.

Cast your line into the Okavango River with an experienced fishing guide, and reel in Tilapia, Bass, Bream and maybe even a Tiger Fish. Fishing is done on a catch-and-release basis and is temporarily suspended during January and February.

Develop your camera skills with a photography workshop through the Great Plains Wild Studio. Guests will need to book the workshop in advance and it will be at an additional cost. Gain tips and knowledge from professional photographers, either on your personal camera or with the latest Canon camera and 100-400mm and 24-70mm lenses provided in your room. Photographs will be available to download at no additional charge.

Encourage young explorers to learn about the natural world. This complimentary program teaches children bushcraft skills, animal calls, how to track wildlife and a range of facts about Botswana wildlife. At the end of your child’s stay, they will have become a Young Explorer and Conservation Ambassador, with a wealth of knowledge and inspiration to help protect the environment and the extraordinary creatures that live here.

Duba Plains Camp is part of Great Plains Conservation which founded the Great Plains Foundation, and continues to support it by providing administrative costs, transport, supplies, and staff time. The foundation leads projects that educate and empower people from the local communities. The Great Plains Foundation set up the Great Plains’ Student Conservation Camps in order to teach the youth of local communities about the importance of the landscape, ecosystem and conservation. Students are provided with classrooms, field trips and mentors to teach them about resolving human and animal conflict, as well as how to protect and engage with their ecosystems. Social activities such as sports and games help to build up students’ confidence and social skills, while students are inspired to become the next generation of safari guides and conservation professionals. This program is important for local communities to see wildlife as something to protect, rather than as a nuisance, and provides children with positive role models.

Pack for a Purpose is a project that urges travellers to use their spare suitcase space to benefit local communities by bringing much-needed supplies for their Conservation Education Program and Women’s Craft Groups. Supplies can be dropped off at your accommodation and will be used to aid a local project, such as craft groups, where local woman are taught skills that allow them to make traditional and non-traditional items such as traditional basketwork, hand-sewn and embroidered products and hand-beaded glass and food nets. These items can then be sold to provide incomes, start small businesses and even support the construction of homes.

Duba Great Plains work to keep their carbon footprint as light as they can by offering guests ways of reducing the environmental impact caused by travelling to the camp. The Great Plains Foundation run programs where guests can donate to fund solar lanterns or the planting of new trees to compensate for the carbon emissions caused by air travel. On average, each guest generates between 2 and 4 tons of carbon emissions when travelling to and from the camp. Donating $100 can provide 4 trees or 3 solar lanterns to help keep your trip as sustainable as possible.

In 2008, Great Plains Conservation opened their Zarafa camp – a luxury safari camp that runs entirely on solar power. Since then, they have continued to build camps with an environmentally friendly focus with projects like the Tesla solar battery system in place at Mpala Jena Camp. They conserve resources and recycle waste with the use of bio-digesters which take unwanted vegetable scraps to produce methane gas for cooking, composting, grey water recycling, the use of recycled materials in camp construction, and a zero-tolerance policy on single-use plastics. such as bottles and straws. This ensures that minimal waste is produced, and the impact that camps have on the environment is minimal.

Rhinos Without Borders is a conservation project formed by Great Plains Conservation and &BEYOND to help protect Rhinos from poachers. By partnering with South African and Botswana governments, the Rhinos Without Borders project has been able to translocate rhinos from high-risk poaching area to protected and remote wild areas, where they are their calves can live in a much safer environment. Rhinos Without Borders also work to monitor the rhinos and continue to provide them with security. Their conservation efforts have resulted in the transportation of 100 rhino, and the birth of 40 new calves.

Project Ranger was set up to help with wildlife monitoring, surveying, and to help protect animals from poachers. In light of the Covid-19 pandemic, where many industries are struggling, travelling is severely limited and tourism has been temporarily suspended, endangered animals are more at risk from wildlife crime than ever. Project Ranger’s emergency support aids people who work to protect wildlife from poachers by collaborating with partners and donors in order to fund salaries and training, as well as the crucial work that ensures these creatures are both monitored and protected.