Celebrating Wellness Everyday, Wildly with Great Plains

June 2024…// Great Plains, the iconic African eco-tourism organization founded by National Geographic filmmaker-explorers Dereck and Beverly Joubert, proudly offers guests a wellness safari of a lifetime. Great Plains takes a wildly holistic approach to wellness, where its offering of spectacular spa treatments is just the beginning.

Whether it’s drifting in peace by Mokoro through Botswana’s Okavango Delta, spotting pristine wildlife as you go, sleeping under the stars on your very own star bed in Kenya, indulging in a spot of fine dining on the banks of the Zambezi or enjoying a massage – or three – while listening to the sounds of the local watering hole, there’s nowhere quite like a Great Plains camp for a total 360 wellbeing-in-the-bush experience.

“Wellness as a concept can extend well beyond having a lovely massage, and in all of our camps we take wellness very seriously, even beyond the spas,” commented Great Plains CEO Dereck Joubert. “Our concept of wellness is all about ‘a healthy mind in a healthy body in a healthy environment,’ so it starts with eating well in our camps, doing exercise, being stimulated by a day watching cheetahs or lions, or meditating with elephants at the Ol Donyo waterhole. All of that sense of joy and wellness can only happen if you aren’t wading through rubbish on the streets or denuded landscapes. In camp our chefs are prepared for delivering great, tasty but healthy meals, based on our philosophy that no day, no meal and no activity should be less than perfect for your wellness.”

All camps across Botswana, Kenya and Zimbabwe offer an unmatched array of mindful experiences and activities, thoughtful cuisine and above all, total immersion in nature.

Staying fit and healthy on safari is of paramount importance to Great Plains guests – as it is to the Jouberts themselves – with the group offering a plethora of active experiences across its camps that bring a dose of the wild to a workout.

At Duba Plains Camp in Botswana, for example, guests can enjoy a scenic ride on their very own stationary bike within the privacy of their suite. Located on a private deck beside their personal plunge pool, the bike looks straight out into a landscape teeming with wildlife, with incredible views right in front of the wheels. Following their workout, spa enthusiasts will delight in the range of treatments available at Duba Plains, with a spoiling choice of experiences – from ‘Earth Glow’ facials using award-winning Healing Earth products, to post-safari drive massages and everything in between – available both in-room or at the spa itself.

Duba Plains Camp, nestled in the heart of Botswana’s northern Okavango Delta, provides the quintessential Botswana safari experience. This private 33,000-hectare reserve, an intricate tapestry of palm-studded islands, floodplains, and woodlands, was chosen as the home base for Great Plains co-founders and explorers, Dereck and Beverly Joubert.

Great Plains holds a firm belief that the truest form of wellness can be found by immersing yourself in nature, soaking up the sights, sounds and emotions of the bush.

A special wellness-in-nature experience for guests of Okavango Explorers Camp in Botswana is the opportunity to ‘drift in peace’ by canoe along the Okavango Delta itself. After climbing aboard the canoe, they will journey in complete solitude through a sprawling and completely untouched wetland habitat. With only their thoughts and the local wildlife and biodiversity for company, explorers will glide through lily pads, past palm tree-dotted islands spotting elephants, zebras, a variety of birds and impalas as they go. Not a manmade sound can be heard as guests become participants in the slow movement of nature, with the golden hues of the setting sun on the water mirroring the mental clarity and sense of peace that follows the experience.

Okavango Explorers Camp is an Explorer Collection safari camp located in the southwest of Botswana’s private 130,000-hectare Selinda Reserve. At the intersection of the upper Okavango Delta water system and the famed Selinda Spillway, the camp’s location is a unique combination of two iconic ecosystems. Okavango Explorers Camp creates a safari experience reminiscent of exploring the unknown African hinterland in a 1920’s style, exuding the romance of yesteryear whilst ensuring that adventure and discovery are an essential part of the journey.

Yoga and nature lovers will find true paradise at ol Donyo Lodge in Kenya, serenely located in the Chyulu Hills, in the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro, where privacy is guaranteed. Home to an impressive stable of 21 horses, the lodge offers the unique opportunity to disconnect to reconnect with loved ones, swapping the rumble of the engine for the sound of hooves on the grassy plains.

The camp offers the chance to practice yoga and slumber beneath the night sky on one’s very own ‘Star Bed’, which can be beautifully prepared for guests every night upon request. Yoga mats and light weights are provided in each suite, providing the ultimate wind-down workout following a day on horseback safari, where adventurers can wildlife spot as they perfect their downward dog. A recently added new fully-equipped gym and spa with two treatment rooms have also been introduced at ol Donyo Lodge along with a private deck, perfect for yoga, overlooking Mount Kilimanjaro.

Post-workout, guests will follow a lantern-lit walkway to their private star bed set up on the terrace of their suite. Made up with luxurious linen and draped mosquito net upon their bed, dreamers can sleep under the endless African sky to the sounds of the bush, only to be woken up naturally by the birds and the rising sun. A night under the stars in Africa is a memory to treasure for a lifetime, providing an unparalleled opportunity to ‘nama-stay’ in bed without missing out on the splendor of the nature all around.

There’s nothing quite like sipping a sundowner while soaking up the sounds of the African bush. Zimbabwe’s Tembo Plains Camp takes this experience to the next level, with the opportunity to enjoy a favorite beverage while gliding down the Zambezi by boat. As they watch the sunset on the water, guests can swap tales of their safari adventure while feeling truly at one with nature as they spot elephants enjoy a refreshing sip of their own by the waterside.

As with all Great Plains reserve collection camps, a Relais & Château dining experience awaits post-disembarkment, with resident chefs tailoring the daily menu to guests’ liking throughout their stay.

Enjoying a majestic setting on the banks of Zimbabwe’s Zambezi river, Great Plains’ Tembo Plains Camp is surrounded by some of the country’s most pristine landscapes. Guests of Tembo Plains camp can extend their bush adventure with a waterside dinner overlooking the Zambezi, whose power is culturally embedded in the country’s history. As guests are mesmerized by the peacefully flowing water before them, the expert team of chefs will create a mouth-watering array of dishes for them to enjoy by candlelight while reliving the adventures of the preceding day.

Nightly rates at Tembo Plains Camp start from $1,145 per person per night.