Boats leave the jetty at first light, and within minutes the engine cuts and the current takes over. The lodge stands on the Namibian bank of the Chobe River, looking across at the Puku Flats floodplains of Botswana’s Chobe National Park. There are no vehicles here. Every game viewing outing happens on the river, in small boats that drift close to elephants and grazing antelope.
Hippos graze and grunt below the deck through the night.
Kasane and its cruise boats lie downstream. Upriver the channels are quieter, and elephants crossing to the Namibian side do so without a line of vehicles on the bank. Hippos graze and grunt below the deck through the night. From June to October, as the inland pans dry, breeding herds gather along the water, swimming the channels and grazing the reedbeds within sight of the chalets.
Big trees shade the main building, and its deck wraps around to give roughly 270 degrees of river and floodplain. Meals are taken there at a long communal table. A pool sits in the shade. Puku antelope, red lechwe and buffalo work the floodplains opposite. They are in view from the chalets as readily as from the water.
Puku antelope, red lechwe and buffalo work the floodplains opposite.
Staff gather on the jetty to sing as each boat comes in, a welcome that sets the tone for the days that follow. Coffee on the veranda while the mist lifts off the water, a boat out at first light, fish eagles calling over the channels, an afternoon swim, then another boat at sunset with drinks somewhere among the islands. An open boma below the deck is laid for evenings around the fire.
The boats are small, flat-bottomed and shallow-draughted, built to push into side channels and slip along reed edges where a larger cruise boat cannot follow. Guides cut the engine and let the current do the work. Crocodiles lie hauled out on the sandbars, and elephants stand chest-deep in the shallows. Hippo pods surface a few metres off the bow. Fish eagles work the same channels alongside waterbirds and raptors, enough of them that the river doubles as a birding circuit of its own.
No game-drive vehicles operate from the Namibian side, so the river carries the game viewing. The lodge lies within the Kasika Conservancy in Namibia, with the national park across an international border in Botswana. When the floodplains dry out enough to walk, guides lead short outings on foot, reading tracks and explaining how the seasonal flood redistributes fish, grass and grazing animals through the whole system. Others take rods out instead: catch-and-release fishing runs for tigerfish, bream and African pike.
Crocodiles lie hauled out on the sandbars, and elephants stand chest-deep in the shallows.
Thatched chalets stand in a curve along the bank, each with a private veranda and sliding doors angled toward the river rather than toward each other. Teak, brick and thick thatch hold the heat off through the middle of the day, with air-conditioning and ceiling fans for the rest. Some units are configured for families, including a family room with a bathroom large enough for a separate tub and shower. The view from the bed is the same throughout: water, reeds, and the floodplain beyond, with whatever happens to be standing on it that morning.
Guests fly into Kasane in Botswana, transfer to the immigration jetty, clear formalities, then run upstream past Impalila Island, often with elephants already on the bank. The run takes twenty minutes or a little over an hour, depending on the river. Katima Mulilo, in Namibia’s Zambezi Region, works as an alternative approach by road before continuing by boat. Whichever way, the last leg is by water, and no road runs in, which is a large part of why the river in front of the chalets stays as quiet as it does.
accommodation
Thatched chalets stand along the riverbank, most of them twin or double, with some configured for families and one family room taking a separate bath and shower. Each has an en-suite bathroom, a safe, air-conditioning and ceiling fans, and a private veranda whose sliding doors frame the river and the floodplains opposite.
activities
Game viewing is by boat, in small flat-bottomed craft that reach the channels and island edges along the Chobe River. Catch-and-release fishing targets tigerfish, bream and African pike. Guided walks run on the Namibian floodplains when water levels allow, alongside birding, photographic outings and visits to villages in the Kasika Conservancy.
conservation
Kasika Conservancy, a community conservation area in Namibia's Zambezi Region, surrounds the lodge, so lease income and employment stay local. Guided visits go to a neighbouring community, offering an introduction to local Namibian traditions and daily life. Formal environmental measures cover waste, water and energy use at the lodge.
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.
Through Kasane in Botswana, even though the lodge is in Namibia. It is about ten minutes by road from Kasane airport to the immigration jetty, then roughly an hour by boat up the Chobe to the lodge, with the border formalities in between.
That crossing is part of the experience rather than an obstacle, but it does need building into the day properly, and we time your flights so the boat leg does not fall late. Passports out and ready.
Yes. This is the Namibian bank of the Chobe in the Zambezi Region, which is significant endemic malaria country with risk present all year and higher through the hot wet season.
We are travel planners rather than medical people, so take it to a travel clinic or your doctor and mention the Zambezi Region by name, because it carries more weight in the guidance than the Botswana side does. Use repellent, cover up after dusk and sleep under the net.
Children of all ages are taken, though those of twelve and under need privately booked activities, at an extra charge.
The boat crossing and the border are worth thinking about with very young children, since it is over an hour on the water at the start and end of the stay. Once you are there the game viewing is all by boat, which most children take to far more readily than a long drive.
Hot and humid from November to April with afternoon storms, and dry, milder weather from May to October with cold early mornings on the water. October is fiercely hot before the rains break.
Bring a warm windproof layer for morning boat trips, neutral colours, a wide-brimmed hat and strong sun protection, and something waterproof for spray. Binoculars matter here, because the game is on the floodplains across the water rather than beside you.
May to October, and June to September above all. The floodplains opposite draw enormous numbers of elephant and buffalo in the dry months, and because everything here is seen from a boat you watch it from the water while the vehicles are on the far bank.
December to March is green, hot and much quieter, with excellent birding as the migrants arrive. Water levels shape what the small boats can reach, so tell us what you want to see and we will place the dates.
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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.
