Located on the northern edge of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, Dinaka Camp is home to one of the most unique biodiversities in Southern Africa.
This ever-changing desert landscape provides refuge to the Kalahari lion, springbok, oryx, and brown hyena. Acquired in 2017, Dinaka Camp offers an ideal start or finish to any discerning traveler’s Botswana safari. Dinaka is operated by Ker & Downey Botswana, which is a subsidiary of the Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) quoted eco-tourism outfit, Chobe Holdings Limited.
Dinaka, meaning “horns,” is a private reserve situated on the northern boundary of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. It offers guided walks as well as day and night game drives. Year-round water holes provide spectacular photographic opportunities, whether from the vehicle, on foot, or from one of several hides or bunkers. Dinaka serves as a perfect contrast to a stay in the Okavango Delta, revealing a hidden treasure in its unique landscape.
Without a doubt, tourists can gain a unique understanding of the culture and an in-depth knowledge of the earth by taking a walk across the Kalahari terrain with a local San Bushman. This experience offers valuable insights into the deep connection the Bushmen (Khoisan) have with their environment.
When undertaking the Bushman educational walk, you get an adrenalin rush from the fact that the area has an abundance of the Kalahari Lions.
Kalahari is home to largest (massive body structure) lions on record.
According to Dinaka Camp Manager Eric Dintwe, Kalahari lions typically form smaller, more scattered groups compared to the larger prides found in other regions. Additionally, the shape and physique of Kalahari lions have evolved to adapt to their unique environment, distinguishing them from lions in other areas.
“They have larger paws and leaner limbs and are able to cover greater distances. The desert lions are known for their characteristic dark manes. Not all are crowned in the same way, but there are noticeably darker specimens throughout the region,” he explains.
Researchers have carried out extensive studies of the diets of these Kalahari lions, by gathering and analyzing scat samples (Beukes, 2016) and plotting the various GPS points of their feeding ‘events’. Larger herbivores like gemsbok, eland, kudu, and blue wildebeest are deemed to be the most popular prey choice, accounting for 68 to 97 percent of the lion diet. Smaller mammals like springbok are less frequently hunted.
In terms of hunting techniques, the Kalahari lions have developed a specific method for taking down the mighty gemsbok. Using the full force of their powerful jaws, the lions will target a particular weak spot in the gemsbok’s vertebrae, thereby dislocating the vertebral column.
As such, while the educational bushman walk is a thrilling experience, that connects one to the unpolluted wilderness, imparting one with the intelligent wilderness surviving skills of the bushmen, it is a given that evey minute, you have to look over your shoulders, just to check if none of these lions is charging after you.
This is inspite of the fact that Ker & Downey Botswana, a subsidiary of Chobe Holdings Limited, ensures that while in the educational bushman walk, armed tour guides sorround you to ensure your safety.
The bushmen of the Kalahari have long been a subject of great intrigue and fascination, admired by anthropologists, scientists, storytellers, and everyday travelers alike.
But a few of them live the same ancient nomadic lifestyle that their ancestors did. Still, some aspects of these traditions have been kept alive through their employment at various safari lodges like Dinaka Camp, whoch is operated by Ker & Downey Botswana.
Dintwe says, at Ker & Downey, they prioritise conservation, even if it means playing a role in ensuring that the Bushmen lifestyle is preserved.
By employing these Bushmen to provide educational tours, Dintwe says travellers can enjoy educational bush walks, where San elders pass on their skills and knowledge.
Their survival is their total dependence on the natural provisions of the land. To the oblivious traveller, the barren Kalahari shrubs and grasslands seem to be useless, but the educational walk will demosntrate that these shrubs are a source of live. They provide water, medicine and some are used to brew the Bushman Traditional Beer.
This common assumption makes walking with the San a fascinating experience, a time to delve deeply into some of humanity’s most cunning tricks of survival. The walk is a tactile exploration involving tasting various foods, including berries and fire-roasted beetles, and demonstrations in fire-making, dancing, hunting, and medicine-making.
Such a fascinating walk can be experience in exclusive places like Dinaka Camp. Dintwe says Dinaka is a very special area. “We consider it semi-desert, but commonly known as the Kalahari.
The place itself is a perfect contrast to your stay in the Okavango delta or anywhere else,” he says, adding that it has its own, unique desert animals and vegatation, and most interestingly, the bushman educational walk walk.
Another wonderful experience is the tracking of animals. Guides identify specific animal tracks and track them off-road, which gives a thrilling experience, while the guide shows off his wonderful animal tracking skills.
The lodging experience
Guests at Dinaka Camp are accommodated in seven spacious safari tents with twin or double beds. Each tent features an en-suite bathroom with both indoor and outdoor showers, hot and cold running water, and a flush toilet. Families can stay in a two-bedroom tent, which shares a spacious en-suite bathroom, making it ideal for this child-friendly camp. The tents are well-spaced and elevated on wooden decks, offering excellent views of a permanent water hole. All areas of the camp are connected by wooden walkways and are wheelchair accessible.
The annual rains transform the arid desert landscape into a vibrant expanse of Kalahari vegetation, providing guests with a unique perspective on the desert experience. The Sleep Out Deck offers a panoramic view and the chance to spend the night under the magnificent African night sky.
Situated alongside the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, the focus of activities at Dinaka is exploring the Kalahari experience with wildlife ranging from giraffe to the antelope, small mammals like the honey badger, bat eared fox and porcupine to predators including the Kalahari lion, cheetah, leopard and brown hyena.
Activities include morning and afternoon game drives in open safari vehicles, with afternoon game drives often continuing into the evening.
Birding is particularly spectacular as Dinaka hosts over 200 different bird species including the Kori Bustard and Crimson Breasted Shrike and a high concentration of Pale Chanting Goshawks
