5 Best places to stay in Okavango Delta

This rare Botswana camp has a bit of everything: water-based activities, game drives and walking safaris – and a wondrous setting in a northern private concession of the Okavango Delta, teeming with birds and spectacular animals.

Set on an island in a pretty part of the Okavango, surrounded by beautiful trees and peaceful water channels, its tents are simple but comfortable, with indoor and outdoor showers – luxury is not the point here.

Being so small, it feels quiet and intimate – with communal meals providing a bit of company – and service is relaxed and happy. The intimate feel is a big plus – it never feels crowded here (other than with elephant and buffalo). The food is homemade and fresh, and the wildlife viewing exceptional.

The oldest elephant camp on the continent, Abu specialises in elephant-back safaris, and allows incredible interactions between guests and these imposing beasts. The camp’s small herd of resident elephants is trained to transport guests through the surrounding Okavango Delta, so they can spot game from above.

This is the best African camp for seeing elephants up close – they have been handled here for more than two decades, so guides know what they’re doing. The Big Five can be seen in the area, among lots of other game – and you can take water safaris by local mokoro boat.

Camp decor is cool, contemporary and understated, decorated in shades of greys and creams, its furnishings made of light woods, leather and rattan, its textiles natural. The communal living space is spacious and airy, and houses a good library (with lots of books on elephants). Interiors are African-themed, but not traditional or particularly local: chandeliers made of shells, walls decorated with black and white photographs. Each tent has a deck overlooking the Delta with beautiful views, shaded by large jackalberry and fig trees. One suite has a private pool.

It’s one of the area’s most expensive camps, thanks to its exclusive set-up – just six A-frame tents on 180,000 private hectares, set high on wooden decks overlooking the Delta. As such, Abu regularly hosts presidents, royalty and Hollywood glitterati, who come for some of the best food, wine and service available in Botswana.

On a private concession in the heart of the Okavango Delta, bordering the Moremi Game Reserve, Pom Pom offers a full Delta experience – at half the price of many other camps. Big game can be sparse though – for the Big Five you need to go to nearby Moremi – but the wildlife is diverse.

Set on a pretty lagoon right in the Delta, the main lodge is thatched, homely and comfortable, with nine en-suite tented rooms with pretty decks overlooking the water. Tents are medium-sized and simply furnished – but have hot showers (partially open to the skies), and there’s a small pool in which to cool off on boiling summer days.

Although not a luxurious camp, the food is surprisingly good (and the carrot cake at tea is particularly scrumptious). Staff are friendly. The kitchen staff make a real effort to make meals special, with prettily-laid tables and polished lamps.

One of the best-known camps in Botswana for game, Mombo (and its smaller sister camp, Little Mombo) are built on Chief’s Island in the heart of Botswana’s Moremi Game Reserve. As one of the few camps permitted in this area, it feels extremely wild and isolated.

Set in beautiful thick hardwood and palm forest, Mombo overlooks grasslands into which game frequently wanders to graze and hunt. Sightings of the Big Five are common, as well as occasional cheetahs and wild dogs; the camp operates morning and afternoon game drives to see it all. Game at this nine-suite camp is so prolific that walkways are raised, so animals can walk beneath undisturbed.

Rooms all overlook the plains, as do the communal areas, such as the boma (where dinner is eaten) and splash pool (popular in the midday sun). Rooms are far apart enough to feel private, yet not remote. Private dinners can be set up on decks, under the stars.

Unlike most other delta camps, Mombo does not have water-based activities – it features only game drives. The diversity of its game means this is a great camp to combine with a more water-based camp in the Okavango. Remote, quiet and in tune with nature, this camp is expensive and often fully booked in high season.

This luxurious but rustically-designed camp sits away from the crowds, in a 60,000-hectare private concession in the northwest of Botswana’s Okavango Delta.

It specialises in water-based activities – you can head out on safaris by traditional mokoro (a wooden longboat) and speedboat – while onshore game drives take you to Handa Island, where the local game comes to graze.

It’s an exclusive set-up: there are six twin tents, two king-size tents and a family tent for up to five guests. Rooms are extremely comfortable, situated on raised decks with pretty views over the water, and decor is relaxed and neutral, featuring wood, natural fibres and ethnic accessories – it feels like you’re in the African bush.

Each room has a private outdoor ‘sala’, an outdoor living room that’s well-cushioned, set beneath trees and ideal for lazing about in the afternoon – or Champagne in the evening.

There’s a romantic vibe, and plenty of treats for urbanites, too: a full spa, a gym, two pools, and very good food and wine. Romantic treats include couples’ spa treatments, champagne dinners or private dining set up in scenic spots.

Big cat lovers should head here to see lion prides up close (they’re tracked by the camp, so they know where to look) and leopards protecting their cubs.