Botswana

Macatoo Camp sits on a private concession in the western Okavango Delta and is built entirely around riding. Guests explore the floodplains on horseback, moving at a pace and silence no vehicle can manage, and often getting far closer to plains game as a result.

The riding is genuinely demanding — guests need to be competent and comfortable at a canter, since the ability to move quickly matters around big game. For non-riders and rest days the camp also runs mokoro trips, walking safaris and conventional game drives.

Khwai Leadwood Camp sits along the Khwai River on the northern boundary of Moremi Game Reserve, in a community-managed concession known for its wildlife corridor.

The camp is deliberately small, with tented suites shaded by leadwood trees and looking out over the river and its resident hippo. Because the concession sits outside the national park, night drives and off-road driving are permitted.

Xigera Safari Lodge sits on Xigera Island in the western Okavango Delta within Moremi Game Reserve, raised on stilts above permanent floodplain.

The lodge doubles as a showcase for contemporary southern African art and craft, with commissioned pieces throughout the suites and public spaces. Its position on permanent water means mokoro and boat excursions run year-round, unlike much of the delta.

San Camp is a seasonal camp of striking simplicity: six white canvas tents pitched directly on the fringe of the Makgadikgadi salt pans, facing an entirely empty horizon.

Operating only through the dry months, the camp trades conventional safari comforts for a sense of space that few places can match. Activities centre on the pans themselves, from quad-biking to sleeping out beneath the stars.

Set among acacia and palm trees on Brown Hyena Island at the edge of the Makgadikgadi Pans, Camp Kalahari is the most relaxed and accessible of the pans camps.

Canvas tents furnished with Afro-Victorian touches sit beneath the trees, with a swimming pool and shaded lounge at the centre. Activities mirror its more expensive neighbours: meerkats, quad-biking and walks with San guides.

Chobe Chilwero sits on a hilltop above the Chobe River near Kasane, its name meaning ‘place of high view’ in the local language, and the outlook across the floodplains is its defining feature.

Private cottages are set within mature gardens, each with its own courtyard. The lodge combines game drives into Chobe National Park with river cruises, and its proximity to the Zimbabwe border makes it a natural pairing with Victoria Falls.

Savuti Camp sits above the Savute Channel in the Linyanti region, a watercourse famous for flowing and drying without apparent pattern over the last century.

Raised tents face the channel, which draws elephant in large numbers through the dry months. A sunken log-pile hide near camp allows ground-level photography of animals coming down to drink.

Bordering Moremi Game Reserve, Sandibe Okavango Safari Lodge is instantly recognisable for its organic, shell-like architecture, inspired by the form of a pangolin and set among riverine forest.

Raised suites look across permanent delta waterways, and the lodge runs largely on solar power with a deliberately light environmental footprint. Game drives and guided walks explore the private concession bordering the reserve.

Chief’s Camp occupies a prime position on Chief’s Island within Moremi Game Reserve, an area long known to safari guides as the delta’s premier wildlife concentration.

Spacious bush pavilions each include a private plunge pool and shaded deck overlooking the floodplain. Activities combine game drives across the island with seasonal mokoro excursions through the surrounding channels.

Camp Moremi overlooks Xakanaxa Lagoon on the eastern side of the Okavango Delta, within Moremi Game Reserve, where permanent water supports resident hippo and prolific birdlife.

Elevated tents beneath ancient ebony trees look out across the lagoon, and a raised main deck serves as the camp’s social heart. Activities combine game drives across Moremi’s mixed habitat with boating on the lagoon system.

Jack’s Camp is a Botswana institution, its green canvas tents and Persian rugs evoking the golden age of expedition travel on the fringe of the Makgadikgadi Pans.

The camp’s setting is unlike any other in the country: a vast, shimmering salt pan that was once one of the world’s largest lakes. Activities range from quad-biking across the crust to time spent with habituated meerkats and walks with San guides.

Chobe Game Lodge is the sole property located within Chobe National Park, occupying a stretch of the Chobe riverfront where Africa’s largest elephant population comes to drink.

Its position inside the park allows game drives to begin before day visitors arrive from Kasane. The lodge is also known for pioneering an all-female professional guiding team, and operates electric game viewers and boats for near-silent wildlife encounters.

Set on Chief’s Island in the heart of the Okavango Delta’s Moremi Game Reserve, Mombo Camp is widely regarded as one of the finest safari properties in Africa, with a reputation built on extraordinary game density.

Elevated suites and walkways look out over floodplains crossed daily by elephant, lion and buffalo. The surrounding concession supports one of the highest predator concentrations in southern Africa, and both black and white rhino have been successfully reintroduced here.