Little DumaTau

Little DumaTau has four luxurious twin bedded guest suites, with the option to move beds together to create a double bed. Each suite has its own elegant lounge area and spacious en-suite bathroom complete with indoor and outdoor showers. Enjoy the uninterrupted views of Osprey Lagoon from your own private plunge pool and hear the sounds of wildlife traffic moving peacefully through the camp.

These eco-friendly suites have electrical outlets and complimentary internet access, as well as fans, mosquito nets and tea and coffee making facilities for your convenience. Guests can enjoy the new wellness centre and gym shared with neighbouring DumaTau camp, with indulgent spa facilities and a lap pool.

Guests can enjoy decadent drinks and delicious meals under the sparkling night sky on Little DumaTau’s private star-deck.

The open 4×4 vehicles allow four guests to each have a “window” seat, for prime views of the area’s rich wildlife. With Little DumaTau located close to the source of the Savuti Channel, there is easy access to the Linyanti Swamps, floodplains and mopane woodlands, offering a diverse range of habitats to be explored with the help of a passionate guide.

While the area is most renowned for its elephants, guests can also expect sights of red lechwe, Burchell’s zebra, giraffe, buffalo, and warthog, along with predator sightings of lion, leopard, cheetah, wild dog, and spotted hyena. Night drives are also available, ideal for sightings of nocturnal animals such as lesser bushbaby, spring hare, aardwolf, serval and large spotted genet, with chances to spot the elusive pangolin.

Enjoy one of the guided nature walks led by skilled, army guides. Guests will be able to get closer to nature and truly explore the wilderness while stopping to observe the smaller things that may be missed by vehicle. Seasonal and subject to availability.

Subject to water levels, the Linyanti River can be explored by boat or barge, with the latter being ideal for picnics and sundowners. Guests may want to pack binoculars to seek out the more elusive birds that reside along the river from the peace and quiet of the tranquil water vehicle.

For keen anglers, the camp has a small stock of basic rods and reels to use in many of the bodies of water around the reserve. Fishing is seasonal and permitted only on a catch-and-release basis.

A top birding destination, Botswana is home to over 600 listed species. Guests can expect sights of the Okavango ‘specials’ including, Hartlaub’s Babbler, Allen’s Gallinule and Wattled Crane. Mopane woodland species such as Racket-tailed Roller, Bradfield’s Hornbill, White-Breasted Cuckoo-Shrike, Bennett’s Woodpecker, Swallow-tailed Bee-eater, Arnot’s Chat and the beautifully patterned Coqui Francolin, can also be spotted.

In between the two camps and overlooking the serene waters, guests can relax at the wellness centre complete with spa and gym. In-tent massages are also available. All treatments are subject to extra cost.

Each suite has its own refreshing plunge pool, and the two camps share a sprawling lap pool for longer swims.

Wilderness Safaris serves to protect and conserve the land in which they operate. The continent of Africa is unique, with over 1000 different mammal species, fauna and humans living side by side. With a commitment to ecotourism, they are helping to conserve biodiversity. Currently, Wilderness Safaris helps to protect over 2.5million hectares of African wilderness and in 2015 they were awarded a medal by the government of Botswana for Meritorious Service to the country.

One of the ways they try to protect the environment is by making sure their camps have a light footprint. Trying to achieve “purposeful luxury” their camps are all built with environmentally-sensitive architecture. Understanding the fragility of the wilderness they operate in, they make sure they minimise any negative impact they might have on the environment and the camps are thoughtfully placed in locations where they don’t take away from the wilderness of the area.

Wilderness Safaris works in partnership with Save the Rhino Trust and three separate Namibian conservancies to help conserve and protect the rare species of the desert-adapted black rhino. These rhinos play a vital role in shaping the landscape of Africa, by grazing lawns and vegetation they help protect plant biodiversity and keep the plains hospitable to other herbivore species. Without them, whole ecosystems would begin to die out.

Wilderness Safaris Desert Rhino Camp works specifically in partnership with Save the Rhino Trust and acts as rhino monitoring post, as well as a camp, to help increase rhino security in an otherwise unmonitored area. Due to an increase in recruitment, Wilderness Safaris and their partners have “dramatically and sustainably increased the range of desert-adapted black rhino in the north-west.”

Wilderness Safaris have a commitment to community engagement in the areas surrounding their camps. Through community employment, Wilderness Safaris currently have more than 100 staff members from local communities throughout their camps, and with the average staff member supporting 7 other people each, 700 further people benefit. Community partnerships can also help to protect and conserve the land.

Wilderness Safaris Damaraland Camp is located in the Torra Conservancy, and through community work and ecotourism they protect around 350 hectares of land within the Torra Conservancy. As a result of this protected land the wildlife is prospering and “‘problem animals’ are now seen as a resource that can bring money into the community via ecotourism.”

With animals and humans living side by side there is a risk of human-wildlife conflict, and Wilderness Safaris seek to address this issue. The Skeleton Coast has seen its desert-adapted lion population grow considerably in the past 15 years. Lion mortalities are declining as attitudes in the community are changing due in part to Wilderness Safaris’ help.

A research centre was built at Hoanib Skeleton Coast Camp for their Desert Lion Project, and the attention gained from an acclaimed documentary have helped local communities and guests understand the importance of the desert-adapted lions and a greater understanding has allowed rural communities to live peacefully with the lions.

Wilderness Safaris and Little DumaTau take the welfare of elephant herds and those who care for them with the utmost seriousness and resolve. It is considered a great honour to care for these majestic creatures and to work in the presence of them. All safari activities and elephant related experiences are meticulously planned with a heightened consciousness of the needs, requirements and boundaries inherent of such an undertaking.

Elephant herd members hold extensive knowledge with regards to elephant welfare and wellbeing, routinely observing the herds for signs of stress and illness, in which case the appropriate measures are put into place with immediate effect to rectify whatever issue may arise. The wellbeing of elephants sits at the heart of all operations at Little DumaTau and serves as the foundation on which all efforts have been undertaken.

A host of other Wilderness Safaris lodges, operates on entirely 100% sustainable solar energy. By utilising the abundance of sun inherent to Northern Botswana, Chitabe Lediba, in addition to the closely situated Chitabe Camp, is able to supply a consistent source of energy that is used to power the camps many facilities, negating the need for diesel powered generators that are detrimental to the surrounding wilderness and environment.

Through ecologically friendly initiatives such as this, Chitabe Camp and other Wilderness Safari Lodges serve as examples of how to successfully operate within the sustainable tourism industry for all to see.

Wilderness Safaris has partnered with the Lion Recovery Fund along with other ecotourism operators to launch the Lionscape Coalition. Established in 2017 by the Wildlife Conservation Network, The Lion Recovery Fund works alongside the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation in order to help re-establish lion populations.

Due to habitat loss/fragmentation, poaching and human and wildlife conflict, lion populations have halved in numbers within the last 25 years. The Lionscape Coalition is an initiative that encourages ecotourism competitors to collaborate to show their dedication to conservation and restoring lion habitats.

Wilderness Safaris created their own Trust in 2003, this is an independent entity that fund-raises for money to be put into various conservation projects. This engages with projects which can be beyond the scope of the areas in which Wilderness Safaris operate, ensuring that “conservation is a driving force in reaching more people, wildlife and places.”

The Jao Concession and the University of Botswana have created a committee hoping to “encourage better engagement between local communities and the Jao Concession, specifically regarding curbing poaching and overfishing.” A total of 25 different projects are funded by the Trust annually, the past 10 years has seen the Trust finance more than 100 different projects throughout 8 different countries in Africa.

Whilst Wilderness Safaris contributes to these projects logistically, the Trust “is involved financially in the projects, supporting research, habitat management and community upliftment.”

This is an educational programme created by Wilderness Safaris which aims to educate and inspire the next generation of environmental leaders by teaching them life skills and environmental issues. This programme aims to “create a network of learning sanctuaries that uplifts and cares for our children and conserves the planet.”

Great numbers of children are involved in these programmes – 2,500 children attend rural, school-based clubs per year; more than 300 children per year are granted a scholarship which pays for their education and Wilderness Safaris and their partner destination host annual camps, which more than 500 children attend.

Wilderness Safaris partner properties all work under the sustainability ethos of conservation, culture, commerce and community. Pack for a Purpose is one of the community projects that Wilderness Safaris has partnered with, it is “a non-profit organisation that provides travellers with up-to-date information about required supplies for community-based projects.” With no one inhabiting these rural areas of Africa accurate recordings of species could not be undertaken.

Wilderness Safaris are present throughout the whole year which allows them to provide not just financial support but also logistical support to anti-poaching initiatives. Due to their presence wildlife numbers have increased dramatically with elephant, lechwe and puku growing markedly. The emphasis on ecotourism is changing lives “camps and lodges bring employment and training, opportunities for growth and travel, and exposure to another world.”

A Wilderness Wildlife Trust-funded project developed a comprehensive understanding of the past and present genetic structure of the lion population centred on Botswana’s Okavango Delta. This scientific glance into lion genetics, headed by lion researcher Simon Dures seeks to humanely collect DNA samples from the lion populations of the Okavango Delta in order to analyse genetic patterns that could explain how human development and encroachment in and around the delta region is affecting the ability of lions to breed and move across landscapes – as well as numerous other ecologically grounded questions and hypotheses. The research collected through the Lion Genetics Study could impact ecological initiatives for years to come and aid in future conservation efforts.

Wilderness Safaris’ aim is that if the camps ever needed to be moved they could do so without leaving an imprint on the land. All Wilderness Safari camps are built in the most eco-friendly way possible. To reduce their carbon footprint and to help them become carbon neutral in their operations, they invest in new technologies to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels.