Overview
The Okavango Delta is the largest intact inland delta in the world, a vast seasonally flooded wilderness in northern Botswana and one of the most sought-after safari destinations on earth. What makes it unlike anywhere else is the water: game viewing happens by mokoro and boat as well as by vehicle, at a slower and more intimate rhythm.
The delta runs on a paradox. Its flood arrives in the dry season, fed by rains that fell months earlier in the Angolan highlands, so the water peaks just as the surrounding land dries out. Wildlife concentrates around the channels and islands, and the game viewing sharpens. At its protected heart lies the Moremi Game Reserve.
Botswana's low-volume, high-value tourism model keeps camps small, private, and remote, reached by light aircraft to bush airstrips. It is a place for elephant, lion, leopard, and wild dog, for hippo and red lechwe, and for some of the finest birding in Africa. We book the camps we have stayed in ourselves.
Country
Interests
Best time
Min nights
Malaria
Why go?
- Camps are small and far apart, so you rarely see another vehicle
- A mokoro moves in silence, which changes what you can get close to
- Reached by light aircraft, and the flight over the delta is part of the experience
- Water-adapted wildlife like red lechwe that a dry-land safari simply does not have
- Pairs with Chobe and Victoria Falls into one northern Botswana circuit
Experiences here
Walking Safaris
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Big Cat & Photography
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Boma Dinners & Outdoor Dining
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Water & Mokoro Safaris
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Before you book an Okavango Delta safari
Water changes everything about how a safari here works, and that is where most of the questions we get start.
Yes, tipping is customary at safari lodges, and it is one of the questions we get asked most, especially by US travellers, since the local conventions differ from home. Guides, trackers, and lodge staff are typically tipped in cash, often through a shared staff box, and we brief every guest on the going rate before you travel.
By light aircraft to bush airstrips, with camp transfers on arrival. It is part of what keeps the delta private and uncrowded.
Yes. If you want a safari unlike anywhere else, water-based game viewing in a remote, private wilderness, the Okavango is worth every bit of the journey to reach it.
Elephant, lion, leopard, and wild dog, alongside hippo, red lechwe, and exceptional birdlife across the channels and floodplains.
The dry season, roughly May to October, is best, with the flood usually peaking between June and August, when game concentrates around the water.