BAINES CAMP

The physical planning of Baines Camp started in August 2003. All design work for this project was done in-house in terms of architectural and interior design. (Sanctuary Lodges & Camps project team under the guidance of Jorie Butler-Kent) Electrical and water reticulation was designed in conjunction with the Sanctuary Lodges development team and Nordin Environmental Services. Nordin Environmental Services were contracted to carry out all skilled and unskilled labour as well as site supervision. Sanctuary Lodges & Camps project team carried out all procurement and logistics of building material, furnishings, fittings and equipment. Site establishment took place in February 2004. The month of February was used to deliver the majority of the bulk materials to site. 2004 Botswana recorded very high rainfalls as well as the highest flood levels in 10 years. These issues created major logistical problems with regard to the transportation of material to site as well as caused delays in the final completion. The camp was opened August 2004 as a five unit 10 bedded luxury camp.

2003 a entry road was cut to the site which would allow for ease of access and operation on site establishment

February 2004 Four wheel drive trucks delivering bulk material to site bogged down on flooded roads

Greenfield site for accommodation units pegged out based on set floor plans. Allowance and provisions were made for each units link bridge from bedroom to bathroom compensating for terrain and trees.

Greenfield site for main building The building was designed and marked out to retain central feature of trees and termite mind

Public Area base pole work Front deck pole work installed on reinforced pad which would allow for deck to sit in water during flood season

Method of wall construction

Beginnings of Baines walling The concept for the dry walling was taken from a regional method of building of mud and wattle replacing the wattle branches with discarded aluminum beverage cans. This allows for lightweight walling as well as good insulation.

Collection of beverage cans A total of 140 000 beverage cans were collected for this project. The collection of the cans was carried out as a community project whereby local school children in Maun were incentivised to collect bags of cans, remuneration was given for each bag and the remuneration was presented to the relevant schools that the children attended. This project not only helped to raise money for the schools but also went a long way to clean up the streets of Maun

A gum pole frame structure was created from floor to ring beam allowing for panels of 1.8 to 2 metres. This slide shows a full panel

Half wall panel allowing for open window Each panel was built using: - layer of chicken mesh - layer of hessian - layer of beverage cans - layer of hessian - layer of chicken mesh

Once panels have been completed the panels were then plastered using a mix of cement, local soil, lime and elephant dung.

The internal plaster was plastered to a even finish but a mixture of grass and elephant dung still gave a rough texture.

External plaster was plastered to create a mud packed finish giving the sense of a hand packed adobe finish

In order to maintain the rustic feel of the plaster a natural paint was used which is a sand based paint which in turn accentuates the plaster finish. A number of different paint colours and options were tested before final selection.

Roofing The roofs were designed to make use of regional thatching methods with a more rustic and local feel.

Roof pole work was a combination of king posts, support posts and thatching laths

Main Area Roof Laths prior to thatching Roofing lines made allowance that all existing trees would remain

Thatching work at main area

Thatching work at Main area

Final thatch finish

Flooring
The concept of the camp was to raise all buildings a minimum of two metres above ground level. This would allow for the flooding regime of the area and to improve on views. All floors started with upright pole work connected by bearers.

Joists were laid on bearers taking into account the pattern of the final decking and flooring onto which the timber was laid.

Flooring materail used is Seligna which is a commercially grown timber and therefore environmentally sound.

Completed decking of Main Area showing different flooring patterns

Sanding and Sealing of Main Deck On completion of the decking work all decks were stained and sealed to the required finish

Back of house buildings such as the kitchen were constructed in a similar method to the main area

Raised walkways constructed to give the impression of rope and timber swing bridges

Raised walkways, poles and beams

Link bridge decking

Sewage Within the Okavango Delta there is no stone or rocks therefore all materials have to be imported. Therefore when designing sewage systems in the Delta we look at alternative methods of constructions of soak-aways with an alternative to rock and stone for this purpose we make use of old tyres. The other advantage of the tyres are at the end of the camps lifespan, these can be removed out of the ground and the soak-aways can then be rehabilitated

Soak aways are connected to premoulded septic tanks. The tyres are laid in a channel and wrapped in a gortex biddem cloth to assist with the permutation of the grey water from the septic tank.

Due to the high flood levels the ground water levels in 2004 rose above normal levels and therefore all excavations for septic tanks had to take place by pumping the holes of its water contents

Power generation
The camp was designed to be powered by a combination of stand by generator with battery and invertor system

Greenfield site of swimming pool

Due to environmental constraints the swimming pool had to be a fibreglass insert. However we still wanted to have an infinity style swimming pool. This was achieved by moulding into the pool collection troughs as well as pumping tanks. The pool shell was delivered to site as a complete moulded unit and due to its size could not be trucked to its final location it was therefore dropped off 2km upstream from the camp and had to floated down river to its site. The finished level of the pool had to be raised to a point that it could not be accessed by elephants

Completed swimming pool with two individual rest salas.

Baines Camp was opened in August 2004