Duba Plains, Great Plains Conservation, Botswana

visit: greatplainsconservation.com/
Duba Plains Camp, located in the northern reaches of Botswana's famed Okavango Delta and just north of the Moremi Game Reserve, is a private 77,000-acre reserve. Inaccessible for most of the year by any means other than aircraft, it is this remoteness that solidifies Duba Plains as the soul of ‘wild Africa’. Duba offers just 12 guests an idyllic all-round Okavango experience throughout the year, with vast, seasonally inundated floodplains, which are home to huge herds of buffalo being a highlight.
Complemented by permanent channels and a number of larger wooded islands, wildlife diversity is guaranteed. This camp prides itself on the intimacy of ‘home’ with all the touches of personal service and superb safari experiences.
Whether in summer, winter, spring or autumn, Duba Plains is a year round delight, offering large concentrations of plains game congregating on the open plains, while predators lurk in the denser forests on the edge preparing to launch into a hunt.
The permanent waterways provide extraordinary bird watching and a steady supply of water for passing elephant herds. Red lechwe, the consummate Botswana wetland antelope, dash through the Delta waters by the hundreds. Hippo, crocodile, kudu, impala, mongoose, warthog and tsessebe dot the landscape. Even leopard is an increasingly common sighting despite the pressure from the ever-present Duba lions.
The lions, renowned for their pursuits of the buffalo herds, are a formidable force. It’s a perfect recipe: the open plains’ nutritious grasses coupled with the Delta’s clean clear waters to create the perfect habitat for the buffalo. Where these herds abound, the lions are not far behind. Contrary to usual behavior, the Duba lions are most often active during the day hours and many of their famous buffalo hunts occur in broad daylight. The prides occur in extraordinary concentrations and in all combinations of ages and sexes - from young playful cubs to old, wise parents and relatives.
A perfect stay at Duba is three or even four nights, thereby giving guests the opportunity to learn about the lion pride dynamics and the individuals as well as appreciate the complexity of the entire ecosystem and its residents.