We were here in early November, and spent three lovely days on the game drives, not only seeing a wide variety of animals, but also learning so much about them thanks to our excellent guide, Steez. The common area was very comfortable and featured friendly staff and excellent food, and our luxurious tent was very comfortable. Highly recommended!
Thank you so much for taking the time to leave us this review.
It's great to hear that you enjoyed such a happy stay, and we hope to be able to welcome you back before too long.
Kind regards,
Pru - The Jackal & Hide marketing team
We stayed at Jackal and Hyde camp for 3 nights as part of Pangolin photo safari. We were flown in by small plane from Kasane and met on the airstrip by Matt, our guide and driven to the camp. We were welcomed warmly by Thomas and Barbara and given a cool drink. Barbara took us to our tent and explained how things worked. We loved our tent with it’s mesh sides and lovely views over a grassy plain that animals frequently visited. Although it appeared basic, it was very well equipped with double sinks, a wonderful shower, toilet and a very comfortable bed. It was lovely to lay in bed and listen to lions roaring, an elephant eating a tree only metres away and all the other animal sounds of the night.
I was provided with a camera and Sabine our photo guide patiently helped me to use it, explained the settings and helped me to get some lovely photos. She was so helpful and very friendly.
Matt took us on two game drives a day in the land rover. He found us some wonderful sightings and we saw all kinds of animals up close and personal. The wild dog and lion sightings were particularly memorable.
The food was lovely with a nice choice of things to eat. The staff were very helpful and friendly. Meals were taken around one large table which meant everyone could swap stories and we had some great laughs. It was particularly nice that staff ate with us, making for a great inclusive feeling.
We throughly enjoyed out 3 night stay and were sorry to leave. Thank you to all who made our stay so pleasant.
Thank you so much for taking the time to leave us this review. We really do appreciate it.
It's fantastic to hear that you enjoyed such a happy stay and we hope to be able to welcome you back before too long.
Kind regards,
Pru - Jackal & Hide marketing team
This camp - known as Pangolin Khwai when I booked it - was the first stop on my 40th birthday African adventure. It did not disappoint.
All of the staff were incredible. The managers at the camp - Thomas and Barbara - were friendly, helpful, and very accommodating. They really made us feel at home. And our guides - Matt and Daniel - were excellent. They did their best to give us a unique experience and were very knowledgeable when it came to the flora and fauna.
I would recommend this camp to anyone visiting the Delta or Botswana.
Thanks so much for taking the time to leave us this review. We really do appreciate it.
First of all, Happy Birthday!
It's wonderful to hear that you enjoyed your stay so much, particularly as it was such a momentous occasion.
Thank you for your kind words about our team, they will be heartened to hear that they made such an impression.
We hope to be able to welcome you back into camp before too long.
Kind regards,
Pru - The Jackal & Hide marketing team
Our family of four enjoyed our time at Jackal and Hide. We saw so much.. three different leopards, lions, wild dog, hyena and of course so many elephants. The Khwai Private Reserve is so nice because you have thousands upon thousands of acres to yourself and you can go off road as you chase wild dogs on the hunt or a shy leopard as she finds her cub. You won’t see massive herds of game but you will see so much variety.. seemingly a surprise around every corner.
We also enjoyed a professional photographer in camp who outfitted me and my 13 year old son with excellent camera equipment and quick instruction on how to use it. What a bonus!
The amenities are somewhat on the simple side for camps in Botswana but we enjoyed them nonetheless. My teenage sons who’ve never done safari said it was the greatest place on earth. The tents and main dining area overlook a beautiful flood plain that often held elephants, hippo, and lechwe while we were there. Distant roaring lions and whooping hyena sang us to sleep each night.
The staff were very friendly and accommodating. Our guide was informative and worked very hard to make our experience a great one. Thanks Daniel!
A few other notes.. night drives were listed as an option on their website but when we arrived they were not an option. Natural Selection is the marketing company but it was Khwai Private Reserve who operated the camp.
Thank you so much for taking the time to leave us this review. We really appreciate it.
It's great to hear that you enjoyed your stay and got such good sightings.
The Jackal & Hide was formerly a specialist photographic camp, so we do all have a soft spot for camera gear! We're so pleased you were able to take advantage of it.
I've passed your notes on to the team. Thanks very much for this feedback.
Kind regards,
Pru - The Jackal & Hide marketing team
We spent three brilliant nights here as part of a Pangolin Photo Safari (camp is now/soon to be in the Natural Selection stable).
Welcoming staff, comfortable accommodation (with enough luxury - including en-suite bathroom and hot water bottles in your bed at night - to remind you you’re not camping!), great food, super-knowledgeable guides and photo guides, and a good range of animals and birds.
The camp is in the Khwai Private Reserve, an area on the edge of the Okavango delta which is semi-arid yet punctuated by enough flowing streams to support extensive wildlife. We saw leopard, lion, elephants, hippos, crocodiles, zebra, ostrich, giraffe, wildebeest and a great variety of birds. A highlight of our stay was seeing an elusive honey badger as we headed to the airstrip on our last day.
We did two three-hour safaris a day - one early morning and another in the mid afternoon, in Landcruiser 4WDs with four guests, a driver/guide/tracker and photo guide.
Our guide, Steez, was excellent - and his ability to track animals impressive. We had the services of two photo guides over our visit, Danny (a Canon guy) and Barbara (Nikon specialist), and both were excellent.
A highlight of each Safari was being welcomed back into camp by manager Thomas, who was waiting with a smile and hot towels to wipe the safari dust off our faces.
Food was terrific, a good variety of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks were included in the package, and gin and tonic sundowners in the bush were a nice way to finish the day.
Jackal&Hide was a brilliant experience and highly recommended.
Camera tips
Our package included the use of Canon D80 digital cameras and 150-600 lenses.
If you’re taking your own gear (I did) and search the web for safari lens recommendations you’ll see lots of references to the 80-400 as being ideal for safaris. It may be in other parts of Africa, but my feeling is 400mm would have been a bit short in Khwai. I used my Nikon 200-500 at 500mm for most shots on a crop sensor D500 (equivalent field of view 750mm). A lot of sites also recommend a second camera body and lens (I used a full-frame Nikon D810 and Tamron 70-200G2) for closer work (eg: group shots of elephants or hippos) and that was useful. Khwai is very dusty so don’t change lenses if you’re on a game drive or you’ll end up with dirt on your camera sensor.
Thanks so much for taking the time to leave us this review. We really do appreciate it.
It's so great to hear that you enjoyed your stay and we hope to be able to welcome you back into camp before too long.
Kind regards,
Pru - The Jackal & Hide marketing team
