Moremi
Stay & safaris
When to go
Wildlife & experiences
Areas of the reserve
Planning your trip
Booking with us
Four camps, ten nights, four flights, and a reason for the sequence. You start on the river at Chobe, where the scale is largest, elephant in their hundreds at the water and the days run on boats. You fly south into Moremi Game Reserve, where the country is forest and floodplain, close and dense, and the drives are the thing. Then west into the permanent Delta, to an island with no vehicles on it, for the quietest two days of the trip. Then east and out to the edge of the Makgadikgadi, where the horizon is open again and the zebra are on the Boteti. Big, dense, still, open: the order is the argument. It is the whole of the Botswana we sell in one line of flight, and the only route long enough to carry the island's two-night extra, the sleep-out deck at Camp Okavango.
Kasane Airport is a short drive from the lodge, and the lodge is inside the national park, the only permanent one there, on the riverfront. Most rooms open onto the gardens and a few onto the river; the boardwalk along the water is where you find the elephant, hippo and buffalo before you have unpacked. Lunch, then the first outing by electric boat: elephant standing chest-deep to drink, crocodile on the sandbanks, and the waterbirds thick on the reedbeds as the light drops. The boat is electric, so what you hear when the guide cuts the speed is the river itself: water against the hull, an elephant blowing somewhere in the reeds, and the guests' own voices dropping to match it.
An early start in one of the lodge's electric vehicles along the riverfront, where the dry-season herds walk in file to the water: elephant most of all, and lion, buffalo, giraffe, sable and spotted hyena along the way. Breakfast is on the boardwalk when you get back. The middle of the day is the pool, the spa or the terrace, and in the late afternoon the solar boat goes out again, this time with the sun setting over the Namibian floodplain across the water.
The third day is the one the shorter Chobe stays do not have. The morning is your choice: a longer cruise for the birds, Pel's fishing owl in the riverine trees, carmine bee-eaters at their sand-bank colonies in summer, African skimmers on the water; or a second drive into the park's interior. In the middle of the day the lodge's eco tour walks you through what runs the place, solar power, biogas and glass recycling, which is why the vehicles and the boats are silent. The evening is one more sunset cruise.
A morning outing and brunch, then the first flight, south over dry country and into the reserve; the Xakanaxa airstrip is a short drive from camp. Camp Xakanaxa stands where the Khwai widens into its lagoon: twelve Meru-style tents on raised decks, hippo grazing outside them by day, paraffin lamps on the walkways once it is dark. After the width of the river at Chobe this is close country: from your deck the lagoon is a few strides away, the trees meet overhead, and the first sound you pick out is not a boat but a hippo in the reeds. The first drive of the stay heads into mopane and out onto the floodplain, and dinner is at a long candlelit table.
Dawn, coffee, and out. The Kalahari's sand and the Delta's water share this ground, so lion, cheetah, elephant and wild dog all hunt within a morning's drive of camp. Brunch, and the hot hours go to the plunge pool over the lagoon, or to the camp's reference library on the deck. A second drive in the afternoon, to a different part of the reserve.
This is the day this camp is for. A motorboat takes you up the Khwai in the morning and through the channels into the Xakanaxa Lagoon: hippo on both sides, a Goliath heron in the shallows, malachite kingfishers on the reed stems, and in summer the migrant herons and storks breeding on the heronry islands in numbers. The afternoon is one more drive, to ground you have not seen, and a last candlelit dinner at the long table.
Brunch and the second flight, west over Moremi and into the permanent Delta. Camp Okavango is a pure water camp on Nxaragha Island: no roads, no vehicles, no engine noise. Twelve suites stand on raised teak platforms linked by walkways, and an infinity pool sits at the edge of the swamp with the channels running away from it. The late afternoon is a motorboat outing: Pel's fishing owl in the ebonies, malachite and pied kingfishers, wattled crane on the floodplain, jacana on the lilies. Dinner is by the fire.
The morning is by mokoro, poled through the shallows where red lechwe stand and a fish eagle calls from the ebony trees. Later a walk on the island, and the fire pit in the evening. If you have booked it, tonight is the sleep-out: a raised deck on the island, a bed under a net and the whole night sky open over you, available from April to October at a surcharge. The island's birding runs through the year, and its reed frogs start at dusk.
The third flight goes east, and the change is the biggest of the trip: the water is behind you, the ground is pale and flat, and the Boteti is a single dark thread across it. Leroo La Tau is set on low cliffs over the river, and every suite is glass-fronted, with the river and the national park across it filling the view. A late-afternoon drive along the river finds elephant, giraffe, kudu and zebra at the water, and lion, leopard, cheetah, and both brown and spotted hyena hunt this frontage.
In the dry months the Makgadikgadi's zebra are on the Boteti in their thousands, with black-maned lion, cheetah and hyena on the same stretch; the morning drive follows the river, and the middle of the day is the hide sunk into the bank at water level. The second day is the river again: from the vehicle in the morning and, in the months the river has water enough for it, from the boat in the afternoon. A visit to Khumaga village can be arranged on request. Dinner is round a bonfire on the last night.
The suites face east, so the last sunrise arrives over the park while you are still in bed. Breakfast, then the fourth flight, back to Maun and the Johannesburg connection. If you want Victoria Falls on this route, it goes at the start: Kasane is the short hop from the Falls.
Every leg is flown. Scheduled light aircraft, their seats shared with other camps' guests, link the four: Kasane south into Moremi, Moremi west into the permanent Delta, the Delta east to the Makgadikgadi, and the Makgadikgadi back to Maun. Each flight is a change of country you can watch from the window: river to forest, forest to water, water to the pale flat edge of the pans. At every strip a short transfer, by vehicle or, on the island, by boat, brings you to camp. On the ground the guides are each property's own: electric vehicles and boats at Chobe, open vehicles and a motorboat at Xakanaxa, boats and mokoro on the island, open vehicles on the Boteti. Luggage is soft bags only, 20 kg per person.
Moremi Game Reserve is the only formally protected part of the Okavango Delta. The rest of the Delta is managed as private concessions and community areas, which is why the same water and the same wildlife can be reached in such different ways from one camp to the next.
Day 1 · Kasane Airport — Arrive; the lodge is a short drive from the airport.
Days 1–3 · Chobe Game Lodge — Three nights on the riverfront inside the park, by electric boat and vehicle.
Days 4–6 · Camp Xakanaxa — Three nights inside Moremi: two days of drives and the Khwai by boat.
Days 7–8 · Camp Okavango — Nxaragha Island in the permanent Delta: mokoro, walks and the sleep-out deck.
Days 9–10 · Leroo La Tau — The Boteti frontage of the Makgadikgadi: zebra at the river, the pans as a day trip.
Day 11 · Maun Airport — The fourth flight, back to Maun for onward connections.
Rates are per person, based on two guests travelling together (sharing).
A single supplement may be applicable to solo occupancy.
May to September for most people: the elephant are on the river, the flood is in the Delta and the zebra are on the Boteti, all of it in the cool dry months. October is hotter and fuller. April and November to December are the transition months, with shoulder rates and December's festive dates. January to March are the green months at the lowest rates, with the camps closed from the middle of January to the start of March.
- —Elephant on the river at Chobe in the largest numbers of the year
- —The Okavango flood is in; mokoro and boating at their best on the island
- —Zebra on the Boteti at Leroo La Tau
- —Clear mild days and cold evenings; peak rates and the earliest bookings
- —The last of the water, and the year's biggest concentrations at all four camps
- —Hot days, comfortable mornings and evenings, thunderheads in the afternoon
- —The herds still on the Boteti at Leroo La Tau in the last weeks before the rains
- —Peak-season rates
- —April: the rains ending and the flood starting to arrive
- —November: migrant birds and newborn antelope at all four stops
- —December: festive dates at shoulder rates
- —Fewer vehicles in every park
- —Green rates and green bush; the birds at their best
- —The longest closure of any of our Botswana routes: the camps close from the middle of January to the beginning of March
- —The first days of January and the last of March are bookable
- —Ask us about a shorter route through the open camps for these weeks
A lot packed into one trip but it never felt rushed. I think Chobe was our favourite, my husband says Moremi. Either way we would do it again.
Four camps, ten nights, four flights, as written. Give us the dates and who is coming; we will confirm the four camps and any of the extras you want with them.
- —Ten nights at the four camps as described
- —All meals: breakfast, lunch and dinner
- —Local spirits, wines, beers and soft drinks (premium brands excluded)
- —All scheduled activities: game drives, electric-boat cruises, the motorboat outings, mokoro and island walks
- —All scheduled light-aircraft flights between Kasane, the camps and Maun
- —Park fees and all applicable taxes and government levies
- —Laundry
- —International and regional flights to and from Botswana
- —The sleep-out deck at Camp Okavango, US$ 250 per person, April to October, booked in advance
- —Premium-brand drinks
- —Travel and medical insurance, which is compulsory
- —Visa fees where they apply
- —Gratuities for guides and camp staff
- —Personal items, and any activity not listed as included
Children of six and over travel on this itinerary. Under-16s share a room with a parent or guardian at every camp, and some activities carry their own age limit. Ask us for a family quote and we will set the rooms and activities to your children's ages.
The light aircraft carry 20 kg per person in a soft-sided bag. A hard suitcase does not fit the hold; we can arrange storage in Kasane or Maun.