MmaTsebe Tented Camp

By air into Khwai airstrip, then about thirty minutes by road into camp. The camp does not run road transfers from Maun and asks that guests arrive by air, so the airstrip is the way in, and it collects and returns guests between the airstrip and camp with that leg inside the nightly rate. The flights themselves are quoted separately and we build them into the itinerary with the camps on either side. Self-drive guests are taken as well, provided the booking says so in advance, and the drive up from Maun is around four hours in a proper four-wheel drive.

We can arrange a private charter rather than the shared light aircraft circuit, typically a Cessna Caravan or a Pilatus PC-12, which takes the fixed timings out of the day, or a doors-on helicopter straight from Maun for a minimum of two people. Either way, luggage is a soft bag of no more than twenty kilograms including hand luggage, no bigger than thirty centimetres wide, thirty-five high and seventy long. That is the aircraft's rule rather than the camp's, and it is the one thing worth checking before you pack.

Yes, and the camp says so itself, describing Khwai, like much of northern Botswana, as a malaria area and particularly so through the rains from November to April. Both official sources agree. TravelHealthPro, the UK's National Travel Health Network and Centre, classes the northern half of Botswana including the Okavango Delta as high risk from October to May and recommends antimalarial tablets for those months, with the risk dropping to low for the rest of the year, when it advises awareness of the risk and avoiding bites. The CDC lists Ngamiland and Okavango, the districts Khwai sits in, among the parts of Botswana for which it recommends prescription medicine to prevent malaria.

We plan safaris rather than give medical advice, so the choice belongs with you and your doctor or a travel clinic, and it is worth asking again close to departure. Practically, the camp puts repellent in the tents, keeps nets over the beds and asks guests to cover arms and legs after sunset, which is sensible on any floodplain regardless of what you decide about tablets.

From six, accompanied, and there are two conditions worth knowing before you book. A family travelling with a child between six and eleven has to book a private vehicle and hold it for the whole stay, which is a real cost and goes into your quote from the start. And children under eleven are not taken on the water or on walking outings unless the camp agrees it specifically, so the mokoro and anything on foot may not be part of their week.

A child of six to eleven shares an adult's tent on a roll-away bed with its own net, and the camp carries only two of those beds, so a larger family group wants booking early rather than late. From twelve, children pay the adult rate. The camp is unfenced and elephants and hippos walk through it, so it asks for children who will stay with an adult and do as they are told. Tell us the ages when you enquire and we will say honestly whether it fits or suggest somewhere in Khwai that suits better.

There is wifi, on a satellite connection, and it lives in one place: a lounge set aside for it, with a long table, sofas and plug points. The tents and the main deck are deliberately left without it, which is the camp's choice rather than a limitation, so the deck stays for conversation and the hippos. Mobile roaming generally does not work in camp, which means anything you send goes over that connection.

Power is solar with a generator behind it. The sockets take the round-pin plugs used across southern Africa, both the smaller and the larger kind, so British plugs need an adaptor, and there are USB points in the tents with extension leads on request. If someone in your party has to be contactable at a set time, tell us before you travel and we will confirm with the camp what is realistic for your dates.

Drives leave at around six in the morning and again at around four in the afternoon, and the mokoro outing is an afternoon of roughly an hour and a half. Guests share a vehicle unless a private one has been asked for in advance, which is the standard arrangement and worth knowing if you had assumed otherwise. A private vehicle is bookable and charged, and it is held for the whole stay rather than for the days you fancy it.

The camp is unfenced and elephants, hippos and buffalo come through it, so there is a safety briefing on arrival and a guide or manager walks guests to and from their tents after dark. That is not a formality. Sightings inside camp are ordinary here rather than remarkable, and the animals have right of way.

The rate is fully inclusive and covers the tent, meals, the drinks from the camp's own bar, laundry, the scheduled activities including the game drives and the mokoro, and the transfers between Khwai airstrip and camp, with VAT and the tourism levies already in it. It reads the same whether you fly in or drive yourself, since the camp stopped running a separate self-drive rate.

Outside it sit premium brand drinks, a private vehicle, gratuities and any outing run by someone else. The two that matter most on a Khwai itinerary are the full day out to Xakanaxa on the water, charged per person and reached either by road or with a one-way helicopter leg, and the scenic flights over the Delta. The flights in and out of Maun are quoted separately from the nightly rate as well. We put all of it into a single figure so you are looking at the real cost rather than a headline. The camp keeps a card machine for anything you spend on the spot, though tips are easier in cash.