Xigera Lodge sits on a riverine island in the western reaches of the Okavango Delta, set within a private concession in Moremi Game Reserve. Deep permanent channels ring the island the year round. The mokoro and the boats run even in the months when drier concessions elsewhere in the Delta have lost their water, and the days unfold on that water: mokoro slipping through lily-covered lagoons, boat trips on the larger channels, and long stretches spent watching hippos and red lechwe from a raised deck.
That might mean a late breakfast watching birds cross the floodplain
The lodge runs on a single principle: anything, anytime. There are no fixed activity slots and no set meal times, and each day is shaped directly with your guide. That might mean a late breakfast watching birds cross the floodplain, or a night drive that runs on well past dark. Because this is a private concession within Moremi rather than a public stretch of the reserve, Xigera can offer the night drives and off-schedule hours that the public game areas do not permit.
Toni Tollman led the interiors in collaboration with the Southern Guild gallery, and the result is a lodge filled with commissioned work from more than eighty African artists and makers. Bronze, timber, ceramics and hand-woven pieces layer through every space. A copper fireplace takes the shape of a water lily, and woven nests are set into the decks for lounging.
A copper fireplace takes the shape of a water lily
The suites are raised on stilts beneath jackalberry, mangosteen and leadwood trees, linked by elevated walkways that lend the whole lodge a treehouse character. Rising above the floodplain, the Baobab Treehouse is a three-level sleep-out for a night beneath open sky. For those who want to understand the work around them, a dedicated art tour walks guests through the collection and the stories behind each piece.
Stanley and Beatrice Tollman had been coming to this stretch of the Delta for more than twenty years before they rebuilt Xigera from the ground up as a family project, with their daughter Toni leading the design. It reopened in December 2020. The camp is managed today by Ben Seager, and his knowledge of these channels runs as deep as the water that surrounds them. What they have made is less a safari camp than a home on the water, built by a family who kept returning until they chose to stay.
The western Okavango is rich in water rather than crowded with big game, and the wildlife on the island reflects that. Red lechwe wade the shallow floodplains in large herds, sitatunga move through the reed beds, and the Pel’s fishing owl, a rare and sought-after bird, hunts the channels after dark. Lions, leopards, elephants, hyenas and wild dogs range through the wider concession, and their calls carry into the suites at night. Out on the water, mokoro trips bring kingfishers, jacanas and bee-eaters close, part of a birdlist that runs past five hundred species across the Delta.
Red lechwe wade the shallow floodplains in large herds, sitatunga move through the reed beds
Executive Chef Ziyaad Brown builds his menus around fresh, seasonal ingredients, some of them drawn from the community gardens the lodge supports. Meals arrive when guests are ready for them, and wherever they choose. That might be a private deck, or the boma under the stars, or a bush breakfast laid out in the concession, or the main dining room. The cellar holds a global list, a thread that ties the table back to the family who built the place and to the world they came from.
Access is by light aircraft to the Xigera airstrip from Maun, then a short drive or, when the flood is high, a five-minute boat transfer to camp. Helicopter flights over the Delta can be arranged from the lodge itself, opening up from the air the channels and floodplains the mokoro cover at ground level. Twelve suites keep the numbers low, and the lodge runs largely on solar power through a hybrid battery system, quiet in a landscape where quiet is the point.
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accommodation
Twelve suites, one of them a two-bedroom Family Suite, are raised on stilts and built from timber, glass and canvas. Each has a separate lounge, bedroom and dressing area, a bathroom with indoor bath and outdoor shower, and air-conditioning. A private deck with a daybed and gazebo looks out across the floodplains.
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activities
Mokoro and glass-bottomed mokoro trips, motorboat outings, game drives, guided walks, birding and seasonal catch-and-release fishing outside the reserve. Night drives and flexible timings run under the private concession. Also on offer: the Baobab Treehouse sleep-out, helicopter flights, private yoga sessions and the art tour.
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conservation
Xigera Lodge partners with Wild Entrust Africa on projects in the nearby village of Habu: a women's organic vegetable cooperative, solar study lights for schoolchildren, and a conservation education programme for young learners. It also supports Raptors Botswana, crane conservation work and EcoExist's efforts to reduce human-elephant conflict, and runs largely on solar power.
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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The light aircraft from Maun takes about twenty-five minutes to the lodge's own airstrip, and the last stretch is a ten minute game drive, or a five minute boat crossing when the flood stands high. We can also arrange a private charter, typically a Cessna Caravan or Pilatus PC-12, timed to your arrival in Maun, which most guests reach from Johannesburg in just under two hours.
The light aircraft take soft bags only, twenty kilograms per person including hand luggage, so pack a duffel rather than a hard case.
Yes. Permanent water surrounds the island, and northern Botswana as a whole carries malaria risk, with both the UK's official travel health advice and the CDC recommending antimalarial tablets for the region, above all from October to May when the summer rains fall. Winter is lower risk, never no risk.
A travel clinic or your doctor will match the right prevention to you, since guidance changes and tablets vary from person to person. After that, the evening habits of repellent and long sleeves matter more here than at a dry-country camp, because the channels that make the place also suit mosquitoes.
Yes, from six years old, with the full rate charged from that age. Families with children between six and twelve book a private vehicle for the stay, which turns out to be a gift rather than a tax, because every drive then runs at your family's pace. Children under twelve sit out the walking and the mokoro, children wear life vests on every water outing, and anyone up to sixteen shares a suite with an adult.
The Family Suite is the natural base, two en-suite bedrooms joined by a shared lounge and one broad deck. Tell us the ages when we plan and we will shape the days honestly around them.
There is no wrong month for the water here, which is unusual in the Delta, so the choice is about character. The flood itself, fed by rain that fell in Angola months earlier, moves through in the dry winter and stands highest from about May to September, when mornings are cold and clear and game concentrates on the higher ground. November to March is the green season, hot and stormy, alive with birds in breeding colour and newborn antelope on the floodplains.
If your heart is set on the mokoro at its glassy best, aim for the winter flood. If you want the Delta few photographs show, storm light and summer migrants, the green months make their own case. Tell us what you want from the water and we will place the dates.
Nearly everything. All meals, drinks apart from a premium list of wines, spirits and champagnes, the full run of activities from game drives and boating to mokoro, guided walks and scheduled yoga, plus the gym, pool and library, daily laundry, in-suite wifi, park fees and Botswana's taxes and levies.
The named extras are spa treatments, helicopter flights over the Delta and a night in the Baobab Treehouse, which carries a surcharge. Tell us which of those tempt you and we will build them into the quote so the final number holds no surprises.
The soft-bag rule on the flights decides the shape of it, so start with a duffel and build in layers. Winter mornings on the water are properly cold, and a warm jacket, a beanie and a windproof layer earn their place from June to August, while a wide hat and high-factor sun cream cover the mokoro, which holds you low and exposed under open sky for an hour at a time.
Neutral colours for the drives, swimwear for the pool, and binoculars for the birdlife. One thing you can leave out is any worry about hot nights, because the suites are air-conditioned, which is not something plain canvas can promise.
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.
