Okavango Delta

The Okavango's Flood

The flood waters of the Okavango arrive at the beginning of May, having built up in the mountains of Angola throughout the early months of the year. Animals migrate from all parts of the Kalahari as the flood waters start to cover the Okavango’s flood plains, and the Okavango becomes the focal point for a staggering migration of millions of mammals. From May onwards the Okavango comes into its peak season and game viewing is some of the very best in Africa.

As with the Linyanti region in Northern Botswana, the Okavango has taken the approach of high yield, low impact tourism. The Okavango therefore has been split up into private reserves where only guests staying in the camps in those reserves are allowed to game drive. As a result, the Okavango is one of the most exclusive game viewing area in Africa. The heart of the Okavango is the Moremi, a public park that is particularly busy in areas but that is also home to the Mombo concession, a wildlife area regarded by many as the best concession in Africa.

If you look on the tool bar on the left you will see three tabs for Wet, Dry and Mixed camps - this is the way that we differentiate between the Delta's range of accommodation, and hope to help you gain a more informed decision for choosing the right camps for you.

The first point to mention is that it is not uncommon to do more than one camp in the Okavango; we would actually actively encourage it. The range of habitat, game viewing and overall experience can be very different from one camp to the next, so it important to see different areas to get more of an insight into the different sides to the Okavango. The Wet Camps are camps that are able to offer the Okavango's famous boating safaris, at any time of the year. They are not flood dependant, usually due to their proximity to the Okavango's main river channels. But when the Okavango is in full flood these camps only offer boating safaris because the game driving circuits become completely submerged. They tend to be located in absolutely stunning areas but care needs to be taken when booking these camps in high flood, simply due to the fact that Big Game viewing is not nearly as prolific.

The dry camps are the polar opposite. They are camps that do not offer any mokoro or boating safaris and tend to be focused on big game viewing. These dry camps are usually located in some of the Okavango's prime game viewing areas, and are particularly good for predators.

The final category is the Mixed Camps, which are able to offer a combination of dry areas for driving and walking, but also wet areas to do the mokoro trips from. The level of wet and dry areas in the Mixed Camps changes throughout the year with the arrival and departure of the flood waters, but as a general rule both boating and driving can be done at all times of the year. There are a couple of camps which have very little water towards the end of the year and cannot guarantee boating - contact us for a chat about all of these.

For more information on the different camps click on the below links :

Okavango Delta - Wet Camps

The Okavango Delta's wet camps are camps where the main activity throughout the year is based on water even when the floods have fully receeded. The main reason for this is their proximity to the Delta's main channels.

Okavango Delta - Dry Camps

The Okavango's dry camps are camps that can offer game driving all year round. These camps tend to have the best game viewing when compared with the Delta's wet camps. On the whole, the dry camps have the Delta's best game viewing.

Okavango Delta - Mixed Camps

The Okavango Delta's mixed camps are camps that offer the typical makoro and boating trips, but are also able to offer game drives and walking safari's at any time of the year.