It’s 6.30 a.m. on the wide, barren plains of Botswana’s Mababe Depression, and the lions are on the prowl. Not content with the elephant they’d taken down the evening before—a female lioness is currently halfway up the trunk, the outline of her head visible under the grey sheet of skin—the pride has now moved to a felled buffalo, where a young male and female are enjoying breakfast, the sound of their tongues scraping like sandpaper as they enjoy the final slivers of meat off the animal’s bones.
We drive on, and 10 minutes later, we pass a caravan of thousands of buffalo making the daily pilgrimage from their grasslands to a swampy pool of water to drink, kicking up plumes of dust that make their horned silhouettes appear on the horizon like a jagged mirage. Somewhere in the nearby dry grasses, another pride of lions is lurking, ready to pounce on any younger buffalo whose hooves end up stuck in the mud. This is nature at its most savage and raw—an untouched corner of Botswana where every day, the circle of life spins around and around (and around again).
It’s also the setting for Mokete, the newest camp from Wilderness, the Botswana-based conservation and hospitality company with more than 60 camps and lodges scattered across eight countries. Their offering runs the gamut from the ultimate in bush luxury—whether the haute design canvas suites of Botswana’s Mombo, or the stylish thatched pods at Bisate Lodge for gorilla trekking in Rwanda—to more intrepid, authentic safari camps placed, quite literally, in the middle of nowhere. Mokete falls somewhere in the middle of those two poles, offering plenty of comfort while also existing in a previously untouched corner of the Botswanian wilds. (It’s the only camp within a 50,000-hectare radius, meaning you and the other guests—a number strictly capped at 18—are unlikely to even run into each other, let alone any other safari groups.) And while the journey to Botswana from most corners of the world will inevitably mean multiple flights, the smoothest route involves an overnight stopover in Johannesburg: there, you can spend the night at The Saxon, a palatial five-star enclave with which Wilderness enjoys a close relationship. Make the most of the hotel’s sprawling spa (a deep tissue massage before heading out into the wild never goes amiss) or feast on a tasting menu of dishes such as local vetkoek bread with Cape Malay-style pickled fish—and after feeling truly restored from the flight, make your way to Mokete the next morning.
The name Mokete means “celebration” or “feast” in the local language of Setswana—and that isn’t just in honor of the hearty meals served up buffet-style at lunchtime. The vibe here is as convivial as it comes, beginning with a warm welcome on arrival from the camp’s manager Yompy (having served as a manager at a handful of other Wilderness camps over the years, he’s something of a company veteran) as well as the staff, the majority of whom hail from the area’s local communities. Also worth noting about that smooth-as-silk arrival? As Mokete is so remote, the easiest way to reach it is by helicopter, which means an epic journey over the Mababe area (and depending on where you’re traveling to or from, over the tendrils wetlands of the Okavango Delta) where you can check a couple of the big five off your list of sightings before you even get there.
After that check-in process—which mostly consisted of being served iced teas and even icier cold beers by the fire as the staff were introduced—it was time to check out the accommodations. In keeping with the low-impact philosophy of the camp—and indeed, Wilderness more broadly—the design here is sleek and minimalist, with earthy tones that constantly bring in the outside in. (In the case of the expansive central area, that atmosphere is fostered quite literally, with all of the dining and drinking spaces being fully exposed to the elements, allowing for plenty of thrilling wildlife sightings over breakfast and lunch.) Afterwards, we were led along the raised wooden paths to our secluded tented suites, all run fully off-grid via renewable PV energy, and with sweeping views over the plains beyond—expect to see herds of zebra grazing in the late afternoons, and occasionally even the sound of elephants clomping by at night. The first thing that strikes you is their openness, with enormous roll-up window flaps and skylights that felt like the world’s biggest widescreen TV onto the daily circle of life taking place right outside.
Designed by the South African architecture and design studio reMORPHED, the overall emphasis may be on a kind of pared-back, portable minimalism, but additional touches of earthy warmth are introduced by the dividers made from sisal ropes that hang from the ceilings, or the organic linens and blankets draped across the impressively plush beds—bonus points too for the private plunge pools, which are sure to be a boon during the baking heat of the summer months. But the real standout detail? The retractable ceilings in every bedroom, which allow you to watch the stars each night. Take a flask of herbal tea back to your room, curl up with a hot water bottle, and download the SkyView app to embark on your own private celestial safari every evening.
The rhythms of daily life at Mokete are reassuringly regular: rise before the sun does, head for coffee and muffins by the roaring fire in the communal area, then pile into a truck to head out on a game drive. (Though don’t forget to pack your thermals if you’re visiting in the winter months—the mornings are frigid, and you’ll need to bundle up in blankets for those early morning game drives.) Return at lunchtime for a buffet spread of grilled meats, salads, and freshly baked breads, before taking a couple of hours for a siesta, or just to read a book and lounge by the pool.
Afternoons might be spent on another game drive, or burrowing down in the nearby hide, carefully positioned right next to a waterhole that is especially popular with a herd of neighboring elephants, who you can watch from just a few feet away slurping up the water with their trunks—or splashing it over the babies to cool them down under the hot early afternoon sun—while sipping your own refreshing concoction, courtesy of the hide’s inbuilt bar. Dinner is a set menu, but offered as table service, and features an impressive array of local ingredients: a highlight was a rich, hearty kudu stew, even if it did give us non-vegetarians in the group a moment’s pause after spending all day watching some of their antelope cousins bounding through the wild.
No visit to this part of the world, however, would be complete without checking out some of the nearby camps too—and on that, Wilderness has you more than covered, arguably offering the widest variety of safari experiences in Botswana. On our trip, we also visited the luxurious King’s Pool Camp, situated along a river in the Linyanti Wildlife Reserve which marks the border with Namibia, and whose service lives up to the regal name. If you can pull yourself away from its nine opulent tents—decorated in a moodier, more dramatic palette of tans and dark browns, each features an enormous en suite bathroom with panoramic views and plush armchairs positioned at the windows to take in the hippos wallowing in the riverbanks below—you can tuck into some of the finest à la carte dining you’re likely to find out here in the sticks, or try a traditional South African head massage at the spa tent. (Or, if you’ve found yourself a little singed on the savannah that morning, go for one of their aloe vera aftersun body treatments.) For our final leg, we also stopped by Tubu Tree for a few nights, whose stylish, recently-renovated rooms in the canopies of trees come complete with bathtubs for a scenic soak, and where the offering of activities also included an idyllic sunset ride through the marshland on a mokoro canoe boat, watching the birds flit between their positions on the tall grasses with the sound of hippos grunting and blasting water as their heads bobbed to the surface in the distance.
But there’s little that can compare to the awe-inspiring wildlife at Mokete, which the other seasoned safarigoers on my trip agreed was among the most spectacularly varied they had ever seen. It was all brought vividly to life by our guide, Wise, who lived up to his name, reeling off answers to our endless questions about the stand-off we spotted between a cackle of hyenas and a herd of buffalo by a muddy pool (the latter hoping they might catch a stray newborn buffalo, apparently), or the pack of wild dogs we spent an exhilarating moment slowly following through the undergrowth.
On our final day alone, we were able to admire the elegant corkscrew tusks of the elands wandering by our camp in the morning, and later, hippos wallowing on the banks of the river, slathering their slippery skin with mud in the process. Elephants with tusks the size of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s forearms trampled through the tall grasses sprouting up out of the deep red sands blown over from the Kalahari Desert, and later, the fur of a monkey perched on a termite mound was illuminated by the golden syrup glow of the sun hanging low in the sky, each strand glowing like the filaments of a lightbulb. Alarm calls from the canopies above alerted us to a prowling leopard, while in the distance, we watched a lame giraffe wobble and fall away from the pack, making for a nail-biting display as riveting as anything from a David Attenborough documentary. Out here, the thrill of experiencing the fully untamed wild has been carefully preserved—and if Wilderness has anything to do with it, it will stay that way.
