On the northern tip of Chief’s Island, in Moremi Game Reserve, a handful of tented suites look across a floodplain where red lechwe and tsessebe graze and lion, leopard, wild dog and cheetah hunt them. This is Little Mombo, a small, separate camp beside Mombo. One family or group can take all of it, and the lounge and dining area become theirs, along with the kitchen and the boma.
Elephants feed in view of the decks, and hyenas whoop after dark.
On Chief’s Island the Delta’s channels feed grass that keeps lechwe and impala on the floodplain all year, zebra with them. The predators stay because the prey does. Elephants feed in view of the decks, and hyenas whoop after dark. Mombo, the Place of Plenty, is locally called Mokobadinama, the acacias hanging with meat.
Little Mombo has stood beside Mombo since the turn of the millennium. When both camps were rebuilt from April 2017, each suite went back on the footprint of the one before, so that the old jackalberry and sausage trees could stay. The foundations were shaped around their roots. Both reopened in 2018, and the camp now runs on solar power.
Buffalo and elephants pass beneath the walkways as they cross camp.
Raised timber boardwalks link the suites to the lounge and run on to Mombo, whose spa, gym and lap pool are shared. Buffalo and elephants pass beneath the walkways as they cross camp. Each suite opens onto a long deck with a plunge pool and a sala. Inside are a copper bath and a double shower, with another shower outdoors.
For most of its history the camp drove only by day, as Moremi Game Reserve’s rules required, and morning and afternoon drives still fill most days. A recent change to those rules added night drives, the first in the camp’s history, and guides can now follow the floodplain after dark. With the camp to itself, a family or group can ask for a private guide and vehicle and set its own pace. When they find a lion pride, they can stay with it for as long as the scene holds, and the same goes for a leopard or a pack of wild dogs.
Boat trips leave from Kubu Jetty when the channels hold enough water. Mokoro outings, in poled dugout canoes, run only when the flood is deep enough to float them through the shallows. In lower water the days turn back to the vehicles and to a hide about twenty minutes from camp, built for long, quiet sessions of watching. Helicopter flights can also be arranged. Lifting off over the Okavango Delta, they show how its channels split around Chief’s Island and spread out into floodplain and tree islands.
As the channels go dark, talk on the deck stops whenever lions roar from the tree islands.
Chief’s Island was once a chief’s hunting ground. From the early 2000s white and black rhinos were returned to the Mombo area in a programme with the Botswana Government, and more black rhinos followed in 2014 and 2015. Where they range is now a matter of security, so no drive is built around finding one. Birding fills the gaps between the big sightings. Wattled cranes stalk the wet grassland and Pel’s fishing-owls keep to the channels, while vultures drop in wherever the predators have fed.
Wood-fired pizza is served looking over the floodplain, and out on drive there is a bush lunch. The camp’s signature is the Mombo jaffle, a toasted sandwich. A sommelier looks after the wine, and private dinners can be laid in the walk-in cellar. As the channels go dark, talk on the deck stops whenever lions roar from the tree islands.
accommodation
A handful of tented suites are spaced out on raised timber decks beneath jackalberry and sausage trees, their roofs multi-layered and insulated against the heat. Each has a sitting room and Wi-Fi, a copper bath and separate toilet, and a double shower with a second one outdoors. The long front deck holds a private plunge pool and a sala.
activities
Game drives run by day in Moremi Game Reserve and, since a recent rule change in the reserve, by night. Boat trips leave from Kubu Jetty and mokoro outings run when water levels allow, and a hide waits about twenty minutes from camp. Helicopter flights can be arranged, and a private vehicle can be requested. Between outings there is birding, and after dark, stargazing.
conservation
Mombo has worked with Botswana's Department of Wildlife and National Parks on returning rhino to Moremi Game Reserve since the early 2000s. The 2017 rebuild left the trees standing, with foundations laid around their roots. Materials came by truck from Maun under a no-empty-truck rule, and the temporary Mombo Trails tents were sent on to Magashi Camp in Rwanda. Today solar power runs the camp.
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
15
The Okavango Delta
16
The Okavango Delta
17
The Okavango Delta
18
The Okavango Delta
19
The Okavango Delta
20
The Okavango Delta
No. Little Mombo is a separate camp with its own lounge, dining area, kitchen and boma, set a few hundred metres from Mombo Camp on the northern tip of Chief's Island and joined to it by raised walkways. The two share the same floodplains and the same airstrip, but Little Mombo runs on a far smaller scale, with only a handful of tented suites.
Each suite has a sitting room, indoor and outdoor showers and a deck with its own plunge pool looking over the floodplain. The camp can be booked a suite at a time, or taken whole by one family or a group of friends. For a bigger party, rooms at Mombo Camp next door keep everyone close without sharing a table with strangers.
By light aircraft. International arrivals clear customs in Maun, where the small planes that work the Delta circuit take you on to the Mombo airstrip on Chief's Island, and a short game drive brings you into camp. The same aircraft link Mombo with other camps in the Delta, so Little Mombo can be reached from the previous stop on your route as easily as from Maun.
For your own timings, we can arrange a private charter to the Mombo airstrip, usually a Cessna Grand Caravan EX, an eleven-seat aircraft that makes up most of the Maun charter fleets. A helicopter transfer from Maun can be arranged instead, which turns the journey in into a low-level view of the channels and islands.
The drives now carry on after dark. A recent change in the reserve's rules opened up night drives at Mombo for the first time, and a spotlight picks out genets, civets and springhares as well as the lions and hyenas at their busiest. There is also a hide about twenty minutes from camp, where a quiet hour can bring animals in close.
When the flood is high, boat trips run from Kubu Jetty in a six-seat boat and mokoro trips set out from camp, though both depend on the season and the water level, so treat them as a bonus rather than a given. A scenic helicopter flight over the Delta can be added at extra cost, and we arrange it before you travel.
For the sheer density of game on the floodplains at the northern end of Chief's Island. Its local name, Mokobadinama, translates as the acacias hanging with meat. Lion, leopard, cheetah, wild dog and spotted hyena all hunt here, drawn by herds of red lechwe, tsessebe, zebra, buffalo and impala, and elephant and greater kudu move through the woodland behind the camps.
Mombo also has a place in Botswana's rhino story. Black and white rhino were brought back to the area from the early 2000s, and the black rhino were reinforced with new arrivals in 2014 and 2015. They range widely and are closely protected, so a sighting is a privilege rather than something to plan a stay around.
Yes. TravelHealthPro, the UK's official travel health service, puts the northern half of Botswana, the Okavango Delta included, at high risk from October to May, when it recommends antimalarial tablets, and at low risk for the rest of the year, when it advises awareness and bite avoidance. The CDC lists the Okavango and Ngamiland districts among the areas where it recommends preventive medicine. Low risk is still not no risk.
We are travel planners, not doctors, and we do not make medical recommendations, so whether to take tablets, and which, is for you to settle with your doctor or a travel clinic, ideally with your dates in hand. In any month, long sleeves and repellent from dusk onwards are worth the small trouble.
June to October, when the Kalahari around the Delta dries out and the game gathers on the permanent water. July to September is the peak: the flood from the Angolan highlands is at its fullest, the days are clear and mild, and at Mombo that is when boat and mokoro trips are most likely to run. October brings the tightest concentrations of all, but can top 40 degrees.
The green season, from November to March, makes a different case. Storms build over a green landscape, migrant birds arrive in force, young antelope are on the ground with the predators close behind, and the camps are quiet, with dramatic light for photographers. Game is more spread out in the thicker bush, so a longer stay pays off.
rated five stars by our clients
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
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.
