Tau Pan Camp

Tau Pan is the only permanent camp set on a sand ridge deep within the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, a protected area of some 52,000 square kilometres and one of the emptiest places on the continent. The camp looks west over the pan itself, and sunsets here run the full width of the horizon.

Nine thatched chalets are raised on decks and linked by walkways, built simply with canvas sides that roll up to the desert. There is a small pool and a viewing deck over a waterhole that draws oryx, springbok and the black-maned Kalahari lion the pan is named for.

Activities centre on long game drives across ancient fossil river valleys and the Deception and Passarge valleys, plus guided walks with San trackers who explain how the desert is read and used. Cheetah and brown hyena are both present. The camp is reached by charter flight or a long drive from Maun.