Botswana lodges are the crème de la crème of the world of luxury safari. As the country is made up of private concessions unless you go to the extremely busy Chobe National Park or Moremi Game Reserve, the prices naturally inflate. Botswana has followed a model of high quality, low quantity in their approach to tourism and it is exceptional at just this. Botswana is home to some of the most spoiling experiences on the continent. The private reserves mean that a lodge which would cost you $700 per person per night in say, southern Tanzania, would cost you $1,300 per person per night in the watery and beautiful Okavango Delta… To get fantastic wildlife viewing and a huge diversity in activities, all in the privacy of your own slice of wilderness, you have to pay a premium!
Best value quality safari lodges in Botswana
Prices have inflated a lot in Botswana in recent years, and they just seem to be going up and up. A lodge like Pom Pom, which admittedly is in an exceptional game viewing area, is now $1,150 per person per night. Aside from the exceptional guiding and wildlife, the actual accommodation is fairly rustic. A fantastic option for some people, though we wonder whether Botswana isn’t going a bit over the top in prices across the board...
A fantastic new property has opened in the Kwara concession; Splash Camp which is a part of the Kwando range. It is very nicely presented and offers a bit more luxury for your money in an exceptional wildlife area but still comes in at $1,416 per person per night.
In order to slash the price of being in these private wildernesses though, we would recommend travelling off season in either May or November, to get still exceptional wildlife, but for a lot less. For example, Pom Pom over these months decreases to $826 per person per night, and Splash reduces to $1,040.
The best barefoot luxury safari lodges in Botswana
Barefoot-luxury safari lodges are a pretty special experience. Little Vumbura in particular is an office favourite. Set on a little island surrounded by water and in one of the most enviable parts of the Delta, Little Vumbura is a seriously special experience. The style is understated, yet authentically luxurious and we absolutely love it. It is not cheap though! Even without all the added luxuries like private pools and a more glitzy design, Little Vumbura is priced at $2,830 per person per night.
Going a little more intrepid, but no less luxurious is Duba Explorers. This is a tented camp, and really does capture the spirit of exploration in the wilderness, certainly without compromising on luxury. Duba Explorers is for those who crave authentic experiences, but expect a certain standard of opulence on their adventure. It is not a cheap camping experience at $1,900 per person per night.
The most luxurious safari lodges in Botswana
The most luxurious safari camp in Africa, and probably one of the best hospitality experiences in the world comes in Mombo Camp located on Chief’s Island in the heart of the Okavango Delta. Private pool galore, the world’s most impressive wildlife viewing opportunities, golden bathtubs, huge rooms and excellent food; it doesn’t get much better than this. As it is one of Africa’s flagship safari lodges… There is again, a price tag to match! In recent years, prices have soared and now in peak season, for one night the per person price is $3,800 USD… If you want the life of luxury, have a good Botswana budget, but can’t justify that per night amount, you could look at the still exceptionally spoiling Vumbura Plains, Duba Plains or Zarafa which are all priced at $3,000 per person per night.
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Kanana - Okavango Delta
Our View
Operated by Kerr and Downey Safaris, Kanana Camp is well positioned over on the western side of the Okavango Delta. The lodge itself is set on a small island that sits in between two “fingers” of the delta channels and is known as being a predominantly wet camp as opposed to the drier camps of the eastern delta. With great food and stunning views, the camp is very good for those wanting mainly water based activities. We like the camp as it has an intimate feel…it can be a little tricky to find game, however!
Our Rating:
Cost: $912
Kings Pool - Linyanti
Every now and again you, unexpectedly, experience a holiday destinatoon that will stay with you forever. My experience at Kings Pool falls into this category. The wildlife was truly spectacular with great wild dog sightings and even a kill!!! The leopard were also fantastic seeing 2 in one drive! We also went on a sunset river cruise which was truly spectacular!!- E. Bell
Our Rating:
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Cost: $2,625
Kwara - Okavango Delta
Kwara was a good place to start off. We were fortunate in having George as our driver/guide - mature, very well informed about all the wildlife and with a good sense of humour. As there were four of us we mostly went on drives on our own with George and a spotter, although the camp was full. The rest of the staff were very helpful and friendly. The accommodation was very adequate and certainly a far cry from our first safari experience in 1985, with electric light, running water and flushing loos now! The food was fine - although the Christmas turkey was the size of an average chicken and meant to feed about 20 of us! Plentiful wine and all sorts of spirits though.We enjoyed the dance/singing routine before dinner (twice), which was just as much for the staff's benefit as the punters'.
There were plenty of animals to see - lots of lion, elephants, giraffe etc. at close range to the camp and, of course, loads of birds. The river safari was good once they had got the boat working and fortunately the punters at little Kwara (friends of Matthew's) came to our rescue several times when the boat stalled!
- D Jeans
Our Rating:
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Cost: $929
Kwetsani - Okavango Delta
Our View
Kwetsani is a magnificent camp, set high up in the trees on an island that looks over the Northern plains of the Jao flats. We really like this camp as it is extremely spacious, has stunning views and great balance between activities. With only 5 rooms, all spread out along the fringes of the island you can be sure to find your escape and privacy here. We love Kwetsani and actually think it is the best camp in this whole concession!
Our Rating:
Cost: $1,753
Lagoon - Kwando
This was our favourite camp! The location was great, the guide and tracker were very nice and we had some great sightings (Matt and .. ). It was great to spend our last days in Botswana with these wonderful people. In Lagoon camp we had the family room and 1 double room. Having the additional double room was not really necessary because the family room could easily have fitted all 5 of us . The campmanager told us that this family room can be booked for 5 people. This is probably good to know for you because families can save some money this way. - R Blom
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Cost: $1,350
Lebala - Kwando
Great guide and tracker (Bali and TT). Great sense of humour, very knowledgeable. They seemed just as keen as we were to find that leopard (and we did find it!!)!- R Blom
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Cost: $1,350
Leroo La Tau - Makgadikgadi Pans
Our View
Leroo La Tau rises majestically above the Boteti River which stretches across the western border of the Makgadikgadi Pans National Park. The park, populated by up to 30,000 zebra and wildebeest closely accompanied by predators, offers guests the chance to experience the exhilaration of seeing large concentrations of game and the resultant predator interaction.
Our Rating:
Cost: $920
Little Kwara - Okavango Delta
Our View
Little Kwara is currently closed. It is being reconstructed and we will bring you updates once this has been completed.Little Kwara is the sister camp to Kwara itself and again, Kwando have come up with the goods! The main reason we love Kwando is their dedication to the client experience. They focus so much on the quality of their guides and providing a real safari atmosphere in camp that they have become incredibly well regarded by safari connoisseurs. The camp is unpretentious, intimate and authentic and the game area, with access to big river safaris. So Little Kwara does not let you down, carrying all the quality we expect from the Kwando tag.
Our Rating:
Cost: $1,146
Little Mombo - Moremi
The sequence of the camps…from Royal Livingstone to Kwetsani to Little Mombo to Jack’s was perfect! Note about Jack’s camp: we were lucky enough to be able to do their surprise sleep out on the pans! What an experience…I wasn’t sure about Jack’s camp and was worried it wouldn’t be right. But we’d seen so much wildlife in Mombo, another camp would have been redundant. Keeping the sleep out a surprise is a good thing…I’m glad we didn’t know. Don’t tell people…the surprise is worth it. And, of course, some can’t do it due to sandstorms, etc. And you were right: the kids loved the 4X4s and the meerkats.The surprise birthday party was incredible: message written w/beans on the bed when we returned from afternoon outing…champagne for us…handwritten birthday cards…animal prints from an artist
Guides were all knowledgeable, friendly, patient w/kids (Ronald in Kwetsani…but he’s going off to join his brother’s mobile safari business; Mos in Little Mombo…GREAT!!!! Excellent w/the kids; Chabba in Jack’s…wonderful wonderful. Funny, knowledgeable.) - J Lamattina
Our Rating:
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Cost: $3,512
Little Tubu - Okavango Delta
This is a truly delightful place to spend a few days. The camp is small with only three rooms for visitors but we enjoyed exclusivity being the only people staying. This meant that the game drives were tailored exactly to our interest. The driver, Broken, has an amazing knowledge of game. And in the case of birdlife had an encyclopaedic knowledge not only of the birds, but of their habitat, their habits, their flight movements, their colourings in juvenile conditions. Highlights were seeing two lionesses with their 8 cubs (on several occasions), a leopard post impala kill devouring the remnants and oblivious to our presence. My wife who is a very keen "birder" was amazed by the abundance of birds. I think we saw nearly everything on her wish list - amounting to over 80 species - only failing to bump into a red bishop bird! The staff were friendly, courteous, always helpful. The food was excellent - not too much but of a very high standard of preparation and presentation. As with holidays of this nature, it wasn't cheap! But Little Tubu Tree was definitely value for money. Our room (tent) had the added perk of having a tree house built into an adjacent tree. It was shaded but high up and an excellent place to spend the afternoons between lunch and the evening drive and to observe the various herds on the plain below. We visited in November just at the beginning of the rain season so the camp was not surrounded by water, but the water holes were abundant and with that came plenty of sightings. A thoroughly memorable visit. - M Pepper
Our Rating:
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Cost: $1,753
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