Kalahari Surf Club

Over the Christmas break J and I took a trip to Planet Baobab - if I tell you it is the home of the Kalahari Surf Club then you'll immediately understand what sort of place it is!

The lodge itself is very different - everything is fashioned out of concrete but it is eccentric and crazy and great fun ... from the aardvak at the turning on the main road, to the chandeliers made from beer bottles, to the outdoor sofas. I wasn't too keen on the cow skin covers on the chairs in the bar though :-(

We stayed in a very quaint Bakalanga Hut which had (too short, if you ask John) beds built into the walls. The weather was great - it rained for 3 days - which meant we could stay indoors and read and play games and I could do my sewing. There was a large group of yarpies (South Africans) who had tried to drive to see the Baines Baobabs (massive, very ancient trees) in the middle of Nxai Pan. Unfortunately they must have taken the gravel road too fast and managed to roll one of their vehicles. Car was a write-off but luckily, and amazingly, no-one was hurt.

Would we recommend it? We enjoyed it but 3 nights is too long. The food is pretty basic and very calorific. They were very accommodating of my being a vegetarian but the food didn't really suit either of us. Staff were friendly enough but not very well trained. The other thing was that there was not really anywhere comfortable to sit and just chill ... maybe it was because we were there or too long and most people use it as an overnight between the Delta and the rest of Botswana, and don't want to sit and chill ... or because we could only use the pool on one day. The thing that put me off more than anything was being asked to sign a contract indemnifying the owners for any responsibility for anything that might happen to us whilst at the camp. In all the countries I have travelled and hotels/lodges/camps/guest houses I have stayed, I have never been asked this before. A little off-putting.

Verdict: quirky and fun? ... yes, relaxing and comfortable? hmm ... no, not really ...