A morning at Nxabega Okavango Tented Camp might be spent following lions through mopane woodland. By afternoon the same guests can be low in a mokoro, poled quietly between papyrus and reeds. Few days here are spent entirely on land or entirely on water. The nine tented suites face open floodplain on a 25,000-hectare private concession bordering Moremi Game Reserve in Botswana.
Few days here are spent entirely on land or entirely on water.
Because the land is a private concession outside Moremi, drives carry on after dark with a spotlight sweeping the bush. On those drives, a Pel’s fishing owl is a genuine possibility. When the flood is high, the other half of the day belongs to the water. Mokoro and motorboat carry guests out along the channels, and the anglers among them try catch-and-release fishing.
Giraffes browse the woodland edges. Out on the wet grassland, zebras and impala graze among the lechwe. Lions and leopards hunt the floodplains, as do cheetahs and wild dogs. The hippos keep to the deeper channels, while elephants and buffalo cross between palm islands shaded by jackalberry and wild figs, with sausage trees among them.
Lions and leopards hunt the floodplains, as do cheetahs and wild dogs.
Every tent was dismantled and rebuilt in 2016, and the guest areas followed in 2017. In the main building, a high, open-truss roof rises over teak floors, with two lounges and places to eat both indoors and out. At the pool, the salas and loungers are turned toward the floodplain.
A guide on foot reads the night’s tracks, stopping at termite mounds where dwarf and banded mongooses live. The mokoro takes guests lower still. A poler works from the stern, and the dugout slides along the papyrus banks close enough to pick out bright frogs, dragonflies and kingfishers. Motorboats push out to the deeper water where hippos gather, and catch-and-release anglers work the channels for tigerfish and bream, and for catfish too. Every one of these water trips depends on the flood, so the balance between vehicle and boat shifts through the year.
Families of every age stay at Nxabega, and the family tent is really two tents joined by an enclosed canvas walkway. Parents and children each have their own room, and nobody has to step outside to reach the other. A triple tent suits two adults and a child. Children get a programme of their own, with bug-finding missions and waterlily jewellery making, and childminders can be arranged. The pool’s shaded salas take care of the hottest hours. On drives, a private vehicle on request lets a family set its own pace, heading home when small attention spans run out.
The rolled-down canvas does little to keep out whatever is calling from the floodplain.
Dinner moves around the camp. Some nights a long candlelit table is shared by every guest; on others there are individual tables on the deck or beside the pool. In the open-air boma, traditional African dishes are served with meat from the grill. After dark, a member of staff walks each guest back to their suite. The rolled-down canvas does little to keep out whatever is calling from the floodplain. On other days, picnics and bush dinners take the kitchen out onto the concession, and private meals can be arranged.
Light aircraft bring guests from Maun to the camp’s own airstrip, and a drive covers the remaining ground. In high water, the last stretch is made by boat. The camp stays open all year, so a visit can be timed to the flood. When the water is up, mokoro and motorboat take to the channels; when it drops, more hours go to the vehicle, out across woodland and floodplain. Scenic helicopter flights can be added, flown with the doors off so that photographers have an unobstructed line down onto the Okavango Delta’s channels and islands.
accommodation
The nine tented suites are raised on wooden platforms under ebony trees. The bed faces out over the floodplain. Each suite has timber floors and a veranda with a swing seat, as well as a private sala. The bathroom has twin basins and indoor and outdoor showers. Air conditioning and Wi-Fi come as standard, with a minibar.
activities
Game drives in open 4x4s continue after dark, which is permitted on the private concession but not in neighbouring Moremi. Guided walks are possible for the same reason. Mokoro trips and motorboat cruises depend on water levels, as does catch-and-release fishing. Birding and spa treatments are offered, and doors-off helicopter flights can be added.
conservation
Nxabega Okavango Tented Camp operates on a modest scale. Its nine tented suites are raised on wooden platforms above the ground, on a private concession bordering Moremi in northern Botswana, and its open vehicles carry no more than six guests. Mokoro trips and walks, two of the camp's core activities, use no engine at all.
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.
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By light aircraft from Maun to the camp's own Nxabega airstrip, a few kilometres from the tents, and then a game drive in. When the floodwater is high enough, part of the last stretch is by boat. Mack Air, a Maun bush airline, flies the route on shared seats or as a private charter in a Cessna Grand Caravan, which takes up to eleven passengers.
The flights can also start from Kasane or from another camp in the Delta, so there is no need to go back through Maun between camps. A helicopter transfer with Helicopter Horizons is the other way in, from Maun or between neighbouring camps. Every route takes soft bags only, twenty kilograms a person including hand luggage.
Yes. TravelHealthPro, the UK's official travel health service, places the Okavango Delta in the northern half of Botswana, which it rates as high risk for malaria from October to May, recommending antimalarial tablets for those months, and as low risk from June to September, when it advises awareness of the risk and avoiding bites. The American CDC lists the Okavango district among the areas where it recommends preventive medicine.
Low risk is not no risk, so even a winter trip is worth raising with your doctor or a travel clinic. We are travel planners rather than medical professionals, so we do not make medical recommendations: whether to take tablets, and which, is for you and your doctor to decide. The tents are sealed against insects; outside them, long sleeves and repellent from dusk are sensible in any month.
Yes, when the flood allows. The camp runs mokoro trips in traditional dugout-style canoes, motorboat cruises through the channels and lagoons, and catch-and-release fishing, and all three are included in the stay. They depend on the year's water, because this south-western corner of the Delta floods late and the level changes from one year to the next. The fullest water usually comes between July and September.
When the channels are low, the days move to land: game drives that carry on after sunset, when a Pel's fishing owl is a real chance though never a certainty, and guided walks in which a guide is with you throughout. A scenic helicopter flight, at extra cost, shows the whole pattern of channels and islands from the air, and the doors can come off for photographers.
Yes, children of every age are welcome. The family tent is two tents joined by an enclosed walkway, each with its own bathroom, and sleeps two adults and two children, with a third child on request. One of the other tents takes a third bed for a child of twelve or younger, and the camp runs a children's programme, with childminders on request.
The pool with its shaded salas gives the middle of the day a focus between the morning and afternoon outings. For a family with young children we would add a private vehicle and guide, at extra cost, so the drives leave and come back at the children's pace. Tell us their ages when you enquire and we will plan the outings each of them can join.
They are two separate camps on the same stretch of the Delta, and easily confused. Nxabega Okavango Tented Camp is the permanent camp: nine tented suites on raised wooden decks, one of them the family tent, for no more than eighteen guests, with air conditioning, a pool, a massage room and room for children of any age.
Nxabega Under Canvas opened in 2026 as a much smaller and simpler camp of three open-sided tents for six guests, unfenced, and for children of twelve and over only. It suits a couple or a small party wanting the Delta almost to themselves. Each has its own page with us: tell us which you have in mind, or ask us to compare the two for your dates.
June to October. As the Kalahari around the Delta dries out, game gathers on the permanent water, and the flood is at its fullest from July to September, when the boats and mokoro have the most water. June and July bring cold dawns, so warm layers matter in an open vehicle, while October is the hottest month, often above forty degrees. April, May and November are good shoulder months.
The green season from December to March is slower for big game, with the animals spread out and the grass long, but it has real arguments: migrant birds in full colour, young antelope, storm skies for photographs and a quieter camp, and the camp stays open all year. Pack in one soft bag: layers, a warm jacket for winter mornings, light neutral clothes and a rain jacket from November.
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our approach
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