Fronting the Zbadanja Lagoon and straddling two ancient elephant corridors, Wilderness’ DumaTau Camp is a luxury camp in Linyanti Reserve along the far northern border of Botswana.
While the Linyanti Reserve has thriving populations of lions, hyenas, hippos and baboons, it is also home to Africa’s highest density of elephants, and they rightly steal the show – whether it is popping up beside my private pool to graze on the rushes or walking between the rooms.
DumaTau Camp was crowned as the winner in the Honeymoon Resorts category at the prestigious UK Weddings & Honeymoons Awards in 2024, but the spacious rooms and prime wildlife viewing make it ideal for families and older couples as well as honeymooners.
The heart of the camp is made up of two large canvas pavilions, one housing a bar, lounge and library, and the other a dining room. A staircase running between the two descends down and out into Zbadanja Lagoon, leading to a circular floating boma – a brilliantly executed piece of social architecture where I’m invited to unwind with a glass of wine and swap stories with other guests around a pit fire as glow flies swirl overhead.
The property was refurbished by Wilderness in early 2020 but was unfortunately forced to close when the COVID-19 pandemic was declared just a month after reopening.
The camp is a short drive across sage-scented plains from Chobe Airstrip, which is accessed via a light plane from Maun.
On Safari
DumaTau offers a mix of land-based and aquatic safari experiences. We set off just after sunrise, bouncing across the lush Linyanti Wildlife Reserve as our guide fills us in on the latest Kardashian-style dramas between two competing lion prides.
Wilderness’ game drive vehicles, which can accommodate seven guests plus a driver, are spacious, comfortable and specifically designed to support wildlife photography thanks to padded armrests, camera rests and a stow box where you can safely store unused lens and gear.
Guides work together as a team to share any notable findings but will typically try to have a maximum of two vehicles at any sighting, both to provide an intimate wildlife viewing experience and also minimise stress to the animals. The radio crackles to life and we’re told a python has just snared an impala and is constricting it. We arrive in time to see the python sizing up its meal and, after watching the snake for a time, we leave it in peace to enjoy a mid-morning snack.
Later that same day, we track a lion pride through the marshlands and have several cute close encounters with their cubs.
We return to camp in the afternoon for an aquatic safari – boarding a private barge to enjoy lunch as we cruise along the lagoon. We’re floored when we see a herd of elephant swim en masse across the lagoon, with calves hanging on to their parent’s tails as they swim. We enjoy it so much we go again at sunset, where we’re treated to an ecology lesson from our guides as hippos eavesdrop from the water.
Lodge experience
DumaTau has eight ultra-spacious tented suites raised on wooden walkways. The entrance leads into a private lounge area with leather couches and minibar, which flows into the bedroom. A small desk is hidden away behind the bedhead for anyone who needs to work while on holiday.
Adjoining the bedroom is an expansive ensuite with wardrobe, double vanity, clawfoot bathtub and separate toilet and shower. The shower has a sliding door that leads to an outdoor shower. Also outdoors is a private plunge pool overlooking the lagoon, where I have a dip while watching the elephants graze on tall grasses.
The interior design is a blend of acacia wood, hand-crafted mosaic tiles and local textiles that ground the property in Botswana, never detracting from the outdoors but offering an edge of luxury for an extra special camp stay. One of my favourite touches was the “curiosity boards” in my room and across the camp – hand drawn illustrations of wildlife alongside a scrapbook of notes about where they are found and their biology.
There are four suites on either side of the common area and the boardwalk between each room dips down to ground level so that elephants can safely pass over them. For this reason, guests are not permitted to walk to or from their rooms without an escort between 6am and 6pm. I had a radio in my room so I could call for an escort if needed.
I also liked how Wi-Fi is available in your room but not in the common areas, which is intended to encourage interaction between guests.
The dining experience
Breakfast starts early, with chefs readying a buffet around the campfire that includes fruit, yoghurt, muesli and muffins as well as cooked breakfast. I’m then given a takeaway bag in case there is something I’d like to take with me on the morning game drive.
After lunch, high tea is served at 4pm every day in the common area as well as a special ‘elixir of the day’, usually a refreshing juice such as a goji berry, carrot and ginger juice or a juice made from baobab nut. The high tea is also constantly changing, and a highlight during my visit is a cucumber sandwich filled with biltong cream cheese.
The dinner is typically light, with a skew towards vegetarian, and the staff can adapt to individual dietary requirements and needs. On my last night I asked to try traditional Tswana cuisine and was treated to a three-course dinner featuring bean casserole, braised short ribs and maize.
A highlight of my stay was the al fresco lunch aboard the barge, which was made up of multiple light salads and grilled meats.
All meals and drinks are included as part of your stay at DumaTau.
Overall experience
Wilderness’ DumaTau camp is one of those dream all-inclusive luxury safari experiences. Understandably it is getting a lot of attention from the honeymooning crowd thanks to its romantic safari aesthetic, but the intimate design and superb wildlife viewing will appear to all clients.
Discover more on Wilderness’ DumaTau Camp or book with Bench Africa.
For more information on Botswana, visit our Focus On: Botswana feature.
About the writer
Justin Meneguzzi is an Australian writer and photographer with a fondness for rugged places who reports on travel and conservation. When he’s not photographing polar bears, lions and wolves, he’s at home wrangling his equally wild toddler.
The writer travelled as a guest of Bench Africa. All words and opinions are of the writer and have not been changed for publication.
