Gudigwa Lodge Ngamiland |
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 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 the San people in Botswana with around 800
“Bukakhwe” San Bushman.
Gudigwa camp is a wonderful, small camp that has been built on a remote
location about 5 km from Gudigwa village. The Bukakhwe San people are
indigenous to the Kalahari Desert and the northern fringes of the Okavango
Delta. The Gudigwa camp 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 of future generations.
Walks out 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 rubbing two sticks together, find out what plants are
edible (and what are not) and will learn how the San survive off 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 8 for groups) has comfortable beds
and linen, solar lighting with a private open air bathroom with a flush toilet
and hot showers. Tasty meals including local delicacies are cooked over an
open fire. Gudigwa camp is located in an area called NG12.This is a massive
tract of land that abuts onto the northern sector of the Okavango Delta and
the western reaches of the Selinda.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 with their way of life much as they
have done for hundreds of years.
Gudigwa camp is located in the north eastern section of NG12.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 benefits the entire community.
With the assistance and backing of Conservation International and DFID, money
has been raised to build the camp that the Gudigwa villagers now own
100%.Access to this camp is by air from Maun, Kasane or any camp within the
Okavango and Linyanti followed by a 5 km drive from the airstrip to the
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.
Rates per room per night, specials, seasons, meals, children policy: on request
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Contact & reservations:
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Description & pictures: Copyright © Gudigwa Lodge