To be sure, Botswana’s Zafara Camp is not really a new top notch venue in the 300 000 acre Selinda Reserve, but is a new name for the premier style camp that was formerly known as Zibadianja. And let’s be honest: the latter is tongue twister for anyone who does not master the indigenous language!
So, following the complete refurbishment and relocation along the banks of the Zibadianja Lagoon earlier this year, the decision was taken to rename this breath-taking camp Zarafa Camp as from 01 January 2009.
Extraordinary giraffe
Zarafa refers to a true story about a young Maasai giraffe, who in 1826, appeared at the port of Marseilles as a gift from Muhammad Ali, the Ottoman Viceroy of Egypt, to Charles X of France. Her journey to France of over 4000 miles resulted in the Parisian crowds being captivated by the ‘beautiful African’. She was the first living giraffe Europe had seen in almost 350 years.
Zarafa remained in Paris for a further 18 years until her death. Her body was stuffed and displayed in the foyer of the Jardin des Plantes in Paris for many years, before being moved to the museum at La Rochelle, where she remains today. So it is in honour of this extraordinary Giraffe that this flagship Botswana property – Zarafa Camp – was renamed after her.
This breathtaking camp has four large and luxuriously appointed double or twin “marquis style” canvas tents that accommodate a maximum of 8 guests.
Each of the spacious tented rooms is expansive and is close on 100 square meters in size (or around 1000 square feet). Each one of the tents tent is positioned along the edge of the forests to take advantage of the spectacular view over the floodplains and savannas, while offering cool shade. Each tent comprises a spacious bedroom, an en-suite bathroom with copper bath & shower and outdoor shower.
The adjoining, comfortable lounge with its private pool rounds off our guest accommodation. A large shady veranda is standard as are overhead fans, as well as a beautiful handcrafted copper fireplace, strategically placed between the bathroom and bedroom for the winter months.
The furniture has been designed and handcrafted specifically for Zarafa Camp and is made from recycled ancient hardwoods. The Camp recently also decommissioned its generators and now runs purely on Solar Powered energy for both front of house and back of house operations.
Zarafa Camp is a proud member of Great Plains Conservation. Great Plains is an African and Indian Ocean conservation organisation that creates conservation initiatives, making them sustainable through a blend of a bouquet of small luxurious camps and lodges; carbon offsets as well as small bush home and villa projects.