A fully exclusive-use, two-suite under-canvas villa set apart from the legendary Jack's Camp — its own private chef and butler, a guide trained by safari icon Ralph Bousfield, a dedicated 4x4, a private pool, and access to one of the world's great meerkat-habituation projects on the edge of the Makgadikgadi salt pans.
Jack's Private Camp meets the Safari Privé Diamond Reserve benchmark point for point. It is a genuinely private residence — a standalone, exclusive-use villa set deliberately apart from the main Jack's Camp — offered with its own private chef and butler, a personal guide trained under safari legend Ralph Bousfield, and a dedicated 4x4 for the length of the stay. Its architecture and heritage are exceptional and singular: it carries forward the hand-carved beds, brass fittings and North African textiles of a camp built on the legacy of adventurer Jack Bousfield, including the first bathtubs in the camp's history. Its location is unrepeatable — the edge of the Makgadikgadi, an ancient super-lake bed unlike anywhere else on the continent — and its wildlife experience, centred on a pioneering, decades-long meerkat habituation project alongside Kalahari lion, brown hyena and San Bushmen wilderness walks, is genuinely meaningful rather than merely scenic. Every benchmark criterion is met without qualification, placing it firmly among the rarest residences in the Safari Privé portfolio.
About the Property
Set apart from Jack's Camp itself yet sharing its every sensibility, Jack's Private Camp carries forward a legacy first laid down in the 1960s by crocodile catcher and adventurer Jack Bousfield, refined since by his son Ralph into a philosophy of "real adventure in unreal style." Two expansive under-canvas bedroom suites flank a central living area, dressed in North African rugs, burnished brass and hand-woven textiles — and, for the first time in the camp's history, brass bathtubs alongside indoor and outdoor showers.
A private chef and butler shape each day around the guests alone, while a dedicated guide and 4x4 lead bespoke game drives, meerkat encounters, wilderness walks with local Zu/'hoasi San tribesmen, horse-riding and quad-bike adventures across the shimmering, savage beauty of the Makgadikgadi — the remnants of an ancient super-lake, transformed by season from mirrored salt flats to verdant grassland. It is a landscape, and an experience, found nowhere else on earth.
Property Fact File
- Accommodation
- Exclusive-use under-canvas villa, launched as a standalone property beside Jack's Camp; two expansive bedroom suites flanking a central living area — one king, one twin-king; first bathtubs in the history of Jack's Camp, plus indoor and outdoor showers.
- Staff & Guiding
- Private chef and butler, dining and schedule shaped entirely around the guests; dedicated guide, trained by safari icon Ralph Bousfield; private 4x4 vehicle for the length of the stay.
- Facilities
- Private swimming pool and outdoor terrace; central lounge and dining area; Wi-Fi throughout.
- Wildlife & Experiences
- Habituated meerkat encounters — one of the world's pioneering habituation projects; quad-biking across the salt-crusted Makgadikgadi Pans; wilderness walks with local Zu/'hoasi San tribesmen; horse-riding safaris and bespoke, unscheduled game drives; desert-adapted wildlife including black-maned Kalahari lion, brown hyena, aardwolf, bat-eared fox, gemsbok and springbok.
- Setting & Heritage
- Positioned on the edge of Botswana's Makgadikgadi Salt Pans — the remnants of an ancient super-lake — within the wider legacy of Jack's Camp, founded in the 1960s by Jack Bousfield and continued by his son Ralph Bousfield's Uncharted Africa Safari Company. A minimum three-night stay is recommended for full immersion in the ecosystem.
Ideal For
- Small groups, families and multi-generational travellers wanting full exclusive use
- Guests seeking a fully customisable, unscheduled safari
- Travellers drawn to genuinely rare landscapes — salt pans rather than classic bushveld
- Culturally curious guests interested in San Bushmen heritage and desert ecology
