ACCOMMODATION
Gudigwa Camp offers guests the rare opportunity to experience the cultural richness of the San people, who live in the far northern reaches of Botswana, between the Okavango Delta and Namibia's border. Genetically, it has been proved that each and every human on earth can trace their ancestry right back to the San people who lived in Southern Africa about 150 000 years ago. Today, the San's way of life and culture is close to extinction through pressures brought on by modern mankind.

Gudigwa village is the largest settlement of San people in Botswana, with around 800 "Bukakhwe" San Bushman living here. The Bukakhwe San people are indigenous to the Kalahari Desert and the northern fringes of the Okavango Delta. Gudigwa Camp is a wonderful, small camp that has been built on a remote location about 5km away from Gudigwa village. The Gudigwa Camp experience highlights the intimate connection between the Bukakhwe San's cultural heritage and their natural environment. By sharing their culture and knowledge of the bush, they should be able to revive a dying culture and pass on their intricate and intimate knowledge of their environment to future generations.

Walk outs into the bushveld with the San people will reveal some of the secrets of the bush. Gudigwa guests will learn about the medicinal uses of plants, track animals on foot, discover how the San find underground water, learn to make fire from sticks, find out what plants are edible (and what plants are not) and will learn how the San survive on nature's resources. The San will teach guests about their culture and background through the aid of an interpreter.

Guests stay in large, cosy, comfortable and safe grass huts made from local materials that are modelled after traditional bushman shelters. Each of the six rooms (or eight for groups) has comfortable beds and linen, solar lighting, and a private open air bathroom with a flush toilet and hot shower. Tasty meals, including local delicacies, are cooked over an open fire.

Gudigwa Camp is located in an area called NG12. This is massive tract of land that abuts the northern sector of the Okavango Delta and the western reaches of the Selinda Spillway. NG12 includes all the land to the north of Duba and Vumbura Camps. There are about seven small villages in this area where the BaYei and San people continue their way of life much as they have done for hundreds of years. Gudigwa Camp is located in the north-eastern section of NG 12. The villagers of Gudigwa have formed their own Trust to represent their interests and to ensure that funds raised from Gudigwa Camp benefit the village and their people as a whole. This Trust is called the Bukakhwe Cultural Conservation Trust and is there to ensure that money earned from the camp does not end up in one influential person's pocket. With the assistance and backing of Conservation International and DFID, money was raised to build the camp - one which the Gudigwa villagers now own 100%. With the help of Wilderness Safaris and Conservation International, the Trust manages the day to day activities at the camp. All the money paid, except for booking fees, goes to the Trust and so directly benefits some of the poorest people in all of Southern Africa.

The camp is open from April or May to early November each year. Access to this camp is by air from Maun, Kasane or any camp within the Okavango Delta or Linyanti, followed by a 15-minute drive from the airstrip to camp. Gudigwa is sold as a one night experience and this makes for a perfect complement to the wildlife viewing camps of the Okavango Delta and the Linyanti.