Botswana Travel Guide
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Okavango Private Reserves
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Pom Pom, Kanana & Nxabega
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Concession history
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Botswana Travel Guide

Concession history



By the early 1970s there were a number of camps throughout the Delta, most of which accepted either hunting or photographic guests. One of the bigger companies involved here was Safari South, who ran many camps including Khwai River Lodge, Four Rivers Camp (near the present Kwara), Queenie, Splash, Jedibe, Machaba, Mombo, Pom Pom, Shindi and others.
Around 1985 Ker & Downey was split from Safari South, as a wholly-owned subsidiary, to differentiate the photographic camps from those used for hunting. Then Ker & Downey had four photographic camps in the Delta: Shinde, Mombo, Jedibe & Machaba.
A company called Jao Safaris owned Mombo at that time. Various contracts changed, which resulted in Ker & Downey leaving Mombo and Jedibe. (These were eventually taken up by Wilderness Safaris, in 1989.) Meanwhile, the government had designated NG27 for photographic use only, and Ker & Downey took over the running of Pom Pom, which had been another old hunting camp run by Safari South.
From 1985 Pom Pom was the only major camp here, but in 1990 they started a ‘partnership’ with Randall J Moore. He brought trained African elephants over from the USA to start ‘Elephant Back Safaris’ and Ker & Downey built Abu Camp – which from 1991 stood on the site that Nxabega now occupies, in the north of the reserve.
In 1993 I was very excited to visit Pom Pom – and to get here I took my first flight over the Delta! It was then one of Botswana’s most upmarket camps, and all of the rest of the clientele during my stay were from America. The combination of staying at Pom Pom for a few days, and then Abu Camp was a winning one; business was good for them. (Note that throughout this time there were also a few simple bushcamps in the area, used by various operators.)
However, the following year Randall Moore tendered for, and obtained, his own concession next door: NG26. This upset the apple cart, as he then built the camp that is today known as Abu Camp – thus taking away a highly profitable chunk of business from Ker & Downey.
NG27 concession has always been subdivided. First AfroVentures (who subsequently merged with CCAfrica) built Nxabega Camp on the site of the old Abu Camp, in the north. Then in 2000 Ker & Downey opened their own new camp, Kanana – which they now own.
Most recently, in 2001, Wilderness Safaris have taken over the marketing and management of Pom Pom, building a completely new small camp here, but keeping the name and location of the ‘old’ Pom Pom.

[Editor’s note: since this was written, Pom Pom has changed owndership. It is no longer run by Wilderness Safaris, although the book’s original text has been included here for completeness.]


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