The Okavango Delta Wetland Wilderness & Wildlife Encounters

From June to October (winter), floodwaters from Angola spill across the Delta, transforming it into a lush inland sea. Wildlife crowds onto the islands and floodplains, and predators are everywhere. From November to April, summer rains turn the landscape emerald, birds arrive in technicolour clouds, and it’s calving season. One’s dramatic and game-heavy, the other is green, quiet and utterly beautiful.

The Delta is a fly-in destination. You’ll land in Maun or Kasane, then hop onto a light aircraft bound for your camp. These tiny planes double as game-viewing vehicles — elephants, hippos, and giraffes can be seen from the skies.

Mokoros are the Delta’s signature safari. A local poler stands at the back of a long, dugout canoe and gently pushes you through lily-filled channels using a nkashi (long pole). It’s slow, silent, and surreal. You’ll glide past reed frogs, kingfishers, and elephants drinking at the water’s edge, with dragonflies zipping past you. It feels more like meditation than transport.

Pretty much everything. Expect to see elephants, buffalo, giraffes, lions, leopards, cheetahs, wild dogs, and hyena packs. Aquatic specialists, such as the red lechwe and sitatunga, thrive in the floodplains, while hippos and crocs rule the waterways. Birders? Over 400 species, from dazzling bee-eaters to the mighty African fish eagle.

Yes! But only in private concessions, not in Moremi Game Reserve. Walking lets you step into the wilderness on foot, learning tracks, smells, and the little details you miss from a vehicle. And night drives are theatre: eyes flashing in the spotlight, lions on the move, and sometimes even a leopard mid-hunt.

Moremi is breathtaking, but it operates under national park rules: no night drives, no off-roading, and more vehicles at sightings. Private concessions are like VIP backstage passes — you can off-road to track predators, walk, do night drives, and enjoy a more exclusive safari. No fences separate the areas, so it’s all one large, wild space.

Absolutely! We’d hope so. One of our favourite combos is the Delta and the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans because you get to see two entirely different worlds in one country.

The Okavango Delta is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and can be seen from space! Most rivers run to the sea. The Okavango empties itself into the Kalahari Desert instead, creating the world’s largest inland delta. Seasonal floods transform the dry savanna into a living, breathing wetland, where lions swim, elephants snorkel (with their trunks up!), and mokoros glide past hippos. It’s a safari setting you literally won’t find anywhere else on earth.