Natural Selection

The company was founded by Dave van Smeerdijk, Jennifer Lalley, James Ramsay, and Colin Bell, who all started out as safari guides. Their family-owned and community joint-venture properties are located in remote wilderness areas, and they are custodians of 1.6 million hectares of land. Conservation and positive impact are fundamental to the Natural Selection offering, and the company partners with governments and conservation organisations to protect wildlife and provide support for local communities.

The Natural Selection camps are located in prime wildlife-viewing and special interest locations. The majority are in Botswana, between the Okavango Delta and Makgadikgadi Pans, allowing guests to combine different regions as part of a well-organised circuit. The Namibia properties occupy truly stunning settings in the NamibRand Nature Reserve, Kaokoland, the Skeleton Coast, and Etosha National Park, facilitating itineraries that incorporate the very best of the country. In South Africa, the company owns lodges in De Hoop Nature Reserve and the Mkambati Nature Reserve. It also pioneered an adventurous Angola expedition that allows safari-goers to access previously unexplored wilderness areas.

The Natural Selection brand stands for quality and integrity. When it comes to the bush, this company knows its stuff, and it caters to guests with a high level of expertise and professionalism. Its dedication to Africa’s wild spaces appeals to conservation-minded travelers. Moreover, the focus is on long-term solutions rather than quick fixes, including local employment, ecotourism development, support for local businesses, and minimizing environmental impact. Natural Selection charges a per-person-per-night Community, Conservation and Reserve Fee, which goes directly to protecting wildlife reserves and the surrounding communities.

Meno a Kwena is a traditional, rustic camp with a riverside location and easy access to Botswana’s Makgadikgadi Pans National Park. It occupies a unique position overlooking the Boteti River and offers a great-value product for this area.

Botswana’s Moremi Game Reserve is renowned for its exceptional wildlife viewing, and Tawana has an enviable location on the permanent Gomoti River, which is particularly idyllic. We love the stylish elevated suites with their outdoor salas and plunge pools.

San Camp is an incredibly romantic camp with mesmerising views of Botswana’s Makgadikgadi Pans. It offers a truly unique experience that involves meeting habituated meerkats, exploring the terrain on night drives, or going quad biking on the dunes, weather permitting.

Shipwreck Lodge occupies a special location within Namibia’s starkly beautiful Skeleton Coast National Park. True to its name, the lodge is designed to resemble a shipwreck surrounded by desert wilderness, where you can see colonies of Cape fur seals and desert-adapted species.

Hoanib Valley Camp is a small, remote camp in Namibia’s Kaokoveld region. Surrounded by mountains and dunes, this is a dramatic setting far from nowhere! Look out for desert-adapted elephants or perhaps track black rhino in the Palmwag concession.