Okavango Delta

One day and night in the Okavango Delta.

As part of a southern Africa tour, we spent one day and night in the Okavango Delta.
In the early morning they took us to a local village. From there we were transported by mokoro to a nice camping place where we would spend the night. After lunch and a swim, we went on a walk on one of the delta's many islands. We only saw some wildlife from far away, but on the way back a Hippo showed itself while we were in the mokoro's. Afterwards at camp we had dinner and spent hours watching the stars.

A birder's paradise

An experience of a lifetime

Oh where to start - abundant wildlife, the most variety of birds that we've ever seen,... The lodges and huts that I stayed at were comfortable and the food served was delicious. The staff were absolutely amazing, friendly and accommodating. Last but not least, the tour guides were welcoming, knowledgeable and ensured our safety throughout the trip.

My trip to the Okavango Delta, Botswana was the best trip I've ever been on, it was an experience of a lifetime.

Once in a lifetime experience

The Okavango Delta is unlike anywhere else on earth. I did the camping experience, which was very back to nature - toilets were a hole dug in the ground, and there were no showers or ways of getting properly clean. However, it was made worth it by the early morning bush walks, where we got extremely close to a variety of animals including elephants, birds and zebra, and the beautiful scenery where there wasn't a building or road in sight. Another highlight was the boat trips, especially at sunset, where we explored the delta in small boats with very knowledgeable guides and got very close to wild hippos. The weather was beautiful - sunny all day, and the food was also amazing, and there was plenty of it. Our guides also made lovely bracelets and gifts which you could buy for a small price and which served as a lovely keepsake or present.

Wild Africa at its best

We visited Xigera Camp (pronounced Key-jeer-a) in August 2015. We flew into the airstrip from where we were welcomed and driven to the boat landing by our guide, Rueben. We then took a boat ride to the camp built on poles and under thatch on a remote island in the Delta. The rustic but very comfortable tent cabins are connected to the main buildings by an elevated boardwalk.

The game viewing can be done by boat, by mokoro (traditional dugout canoe) or by land rover. Rueben was a great guide being very knowledgeable, very well spoken with excellent English and a deep understanding of the animals and the eco-system. His professionalism made us feel safe when we had several very close encounters with elephant and hippo, an unforgettable experience.

The staff were very friendly and extremely helpful. Food was always very good, well introduced and matched with good quality wines.

Our tent/cabin had its own private veranda overlooking a hippo pool. Each morning, before sunrise, we watched the hippos come out to graze as the sun rose with the incredible colors of an African sunrise.

An unforgettable experience we look forward to doing again.

For my part it wasn't just a Safari because I also do ecovoluntering.

The weather in Botswana is very sunny and sometimes very hot. My wildlife guide was the director of the ecovoluntering project, it was a bushman so he had a lot experience with the wildlife, we saw beautiful animal like elephant and hippo.
Concerning the transportation we was in a land rover defender or a land cruiser this vehicules was great to move into the bush.

Unbelievable experience seeing wide variety of animals and meeting wonderful fellow travelers.

Unbelievable experience starting with arriving in a bush plane, viewing a wide a variety of animals including wild dogs, lions, cheetahs and leopards and enjoying our stay at Kwara. Tracking the animals was exciting and our guides were fantastic.

Stunningly beautiful. Tranquil and unspoiled.

Canoe (mokoro) trip into the Okavango Delta is a mandatory experience in a visit to Botswana. Even with not-so-good weather as we had (light showers, cloudy sky) it is still an experience like no other. Close contact with nothing but nature - sounds, smells and sights. No motors, no blabbing tourists, very, very relaxing!
Accomodation in Maun was OK, and we were sorry that a fly-in safari to a luxury lodge inside the Park was out of our budget-range (but it must be stunning!).

Not the Africa I was expecting. Awesomely suprised.

The Okavango Delta was a location that we had heard a lot about, but had seen little of. So when we decided to head to Botswana, we put the Delta on our must do list. Was one of the best decisions we made.

From the flight from Kasane airport into the campgrounds, to the drive from the bush runway to our tented site it was spectacular. Three days of seeing all types of animals, Lions and Leopards, to Elephants and Painted Dogs.

I would highly recommend the Delta to anyone who wants to experience ALL of Africa. Also, with the introduction of Rhinos, you can't go wrong!

Excellent variety and quantity of wildlife.

We used lodges varying from primitive and rustic to 4-star class. A guided kayak trip out of Maun was based in ordinary 2-person tents. The Footsteps lodge was cabin-sized tents with plumbing, but the Little Kwara lodge was much better appointed. The food at both lodges was very good. The guided game drives produced many great close-up wildlife sightings and the guides were usually well trained and very friendly. Our weather in May was unusually cool, getting down to near freezing some nights. The days were comfortable, but the temps for dawn game drives required a jacket on top of a sweater. The clothes that we took were not quite warm enough for comfort in these conditions. The upside of the low temperatures was that we had no trouble at all with bugs.
Our favorite memories came from dawn and sunset game-tracking walks with the local native guide on our kayak trip north of Maun.