Duba Plains occupies a tree-shaded island deep in the far northern Okavango Delta, on a private concession where open floodplains, not woodland, fill the view. Ebony, fig and garcinia shade the camp itself. Beyond them the ground gives way to grassland that floods each year, from May into October, as water arrives from rains far upstream in Angola. Guests are, in effect, marooned on high ground within a wetland, the camp raised above the flood while every deck and pathway looks straight out onto it.
the lion prides that follow them hunt in daylight
Deep channels cut this stretch of floodplain off from the mainland, so the range of species is narrower than in the mixed woodland areas of the Delta. What remains is concentrated. Buffalo herds run into the thousands, and the lion prides that follow them hunt in daylight in a way still uncommon even by Okavango standards. And because this is a private concession rather than a public park, drives run long and uninterrupted across the floodplains, with little other traffic to share a sighting.
A private concession changes the terms of a day’s guiding. In Botswana’s national parks, vehicles keep to daylight hours and marked tracks. Here, on NG23, guides can leave the road to follow lions tracking buffalo across open ground, run spotlit drives after dark, and lead walks along the channels on foot. In flood season, boating and mokoro excursions open up the reed-lined waterways between islands, a different vantage point on the same country.
Over 200 bird species have been recorded on the reserve
Getting here means a light aircraft rather than a road, from Maun or an hour and twenty from Kasane, landing at the concession’s own airstrip a short drive from camp. That distance from towns and tarred roads is why sightings here tend to be private ones. Over 200 bird species have been recorded on the reserve, among them wattled crane, slaty egret and Pel’s fishing owl, seen along the same channels the mokoro cross.
This is the home ground of Dereck and Beverly Joubert, the National Geographic filmmakers and conservationists who once lived on the island themselves. They filmed its lion and buffalo drama here for the documentary Relentless Enemies. Their conservation company now holds Duba in a joint venture with the local community, so lease payments and employment flow back from tourism on the land. Dereck Joubert led the design of the current camp too, rebuilt from the earlier Duba Plains Camp that first established the area’s reputation for lion and buffalo interaction.
The design reaches back to a 1920s safari aesthetic rather than contemporary luxury. Canvas suites stand on raised timber decks built from recycled railway sleepers, and inside are wooden floors, leather chairs, Persian rugs and brass fittings. Each holds a lounge, a bed under mosquito netting, and a bathroom with indoor and outdoor showers and a freestanding bath, opening onto a private veranda with a plunge pool that faces the floodplains. The main thatched areas gather a library, a wine cellar and an interactive kitchen where guests can watch the team at work.
The design reaches back to a 1920s safari aesthetic rather than contemporary luxury
Meals move with the light and the setting. Lunch is laid al fresco under the ebony trees, dinner is a tasting menu with wine pairings, and picnics are packed for longer drives so a sighting need never be cut short. Duba Plains is a Relais & Châteaux member, and the kitchen holds to that standard from bush breakfasts to the longest multi-course evenings, wherever the day happens to end. Wildlife, meanwhile, reaches the camp without anyone needing to leave it. Elephant, buffalo and hippo move across the floodplains directly in front of the raised decks, and lion calls and hippo grunts carry over the water at night.
Leopard hold the forested islands within the concession, hyena dens are often active, and tsessebe, warthog and blue wildebeest cross the open grassland beyond camp. The birding runs deep enough that Duba Plains keeps a “111 Club” for guests who identify 111 or more species during a single stay. It is a fitting flourish for a place where so much of the drama arrives on its own terms, and where the pleasure lies as much in what wanders past the deck as in what the guides go looking for.
01
accommodation
Duba Plains has five canvas tented suites and a separate two-bedroom Duba Plains Suite, all raised on timber decks. Each holds a lounge area, a bed under mosquito netting, and a bathroom with double vanities, freestanding bath, and indoor and outdoor showers. Private verandas have a plunge pool and shaded sala overlooking the floodplains.
02
activities
On this private concession, guides run morning, afternoon and night game drives in open 4x4s, tracking lions and buffalo off-road across the plains. Guided walks operate year-round. Boating runs through the year and mokoro seasonally, water levels permitting. Birding covers over 200 recorded species, with binoculars provided.
03
conservation
Duba Plains is the home camp of the wildlife filmmakers Dereck and Beverly Joubert, and the Great Plains Foundation they founded carries real weight: Rhinos Without Borders moved 87 rhino from South Africa to Botswana between 2015 and 2018, the Solar Mamas programme has put solar power into a thousand homes, and more than two thousand schoolchildren have been hosted for conservation education.
Get in touch and let’s start the conversation. An initial consultation helps us understand what you’re looking for, whether that’s specific experiences, luxury touches, or marking a special occasion, and from there we’ll guide you through what’s possible so you can decide if we’re the right fit.
01
The Okavango Delta
02
The Okavango Delta
03
The Okavango Delta
04
The Okavango Delta
05
The Okavango Delta
06
The Okavango Delta
07
The Okavango Delta
08
The Okavango Delta
09
The Okavango Delta
10
The Okavango Delta
11
The Okavango Delta
12
The Okavango Delta
13
The Okavango Delta
14
The Okavango Delta
Only by air. The light aircraft from Maun takes about forty minutes, or an hour and twenty from Kasane, and the camp's own airstrip sits five minutes' drive from the tents. We can also arrange a private charter, typically a Cessna Caravan or Pilatus PC-12, timed against your arrival from Johannesburg so the whole journey runs as one day.
Soft bags only on the flights, twenty kilograms per person including hand luggage, so pack a duffel and leave the hard case at home.
Yes, and a floodplain camp deserves the straight version. Northern Botswana carries malaria risk through the year, highest from October to May during the rains, and both the UK's official travel health advice and the CDC recommend antimalarial tablets for the region. The dry months ease the risk without removing it.
Check the current guidance with a travel clinic or your doctor a few weeks before travelling, then let the mosquito nets over the beds and the usual dusk habits of long sleeves and repellent do the daily work.
From six years old, with one condition to plan around. Families with children between six and twelve book a private vehicle at an extra cost, which in practice buys the freedom to run every drive to your children's rhythm, and children younger than six only come when the whole camp is taken exclusively. Walking is for ages twelve and up, and from sixteen teenagers pay the adult rate in a tent of their own.
The two-bedroom suite gives a family its own roof and deck. Tell us the ages when we plan and we will be straight about what fits now and what can wait for a return trip.
The calendar runs backwards from most safari maps, because the water rises here through the dry season. The flood that soaks these plains left Angola as summer rain months earlier, arriving from about May and standing into October, so winter brings the fullest wetland and the driest skies at once, with the boating at its best and the buffalo herds working the shrinking grass. The daylight lion and buffalo drama the camp is known for runs in every month.
From November to April the country greens, storms build in the afternoons and the birding lifts, a wilder-looking Delta that photographers rate highly. Tell us which version you want and we will set the dates to it.
The rate is fully inclusive: accommodation, all meals, drinks, the scheduled activities, daily laundry and the road transfers between airstrip and camp. Depending on the rate booked, premium champagne and a nightly conservation levy can sit outside it, so we spell both out in your quote from the start rather than let them arrive later as a surprise.
Spa treatments are the other named extra. Tell us early if a massage between drives appeals and we will price the whole stay as one number.
Yes. Wifi runs in camp and there is mobile signal too, which surprises people this deep into the Delta. Treat it as enough to keep family posted rather than an office in the bush.
If being reachable genuinely matters, for work or for home, tell us before you travel and we will set honest expectations for every stop on the route.
rated five stars by our clients
our approach
Every journey starts with a conversation. We take the time to understand your vision before we start planning.
Whether by phone or in person, we work with you directly to shape something that is considered, personal, and expertly delivered.
