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African Safaris and Tours
Botswana Luxury Safari Lodges
Our Pick of Botswana's Top-End Safari Camps, From the Delta to the Pans
Botswana's luxury safari lodges are small, beautifully finished camps set in remote wilderness: the channels and palm islands of the Okavango Delta, the game-rich floodplains of Moremi Game Reserve, the lagoons of the private Linyanti and Selinda reserves, the Savuti region of Chobe National Park, and the vast white silence of the Makgadikgadi Pans.
This is our pick of Botswana's top-end camps – the ones we suggest when comfort, privacy and service matter as much as the wildlife. Here's what luxury looks like out here:
- Spacious tented suites, many with private plunge pools and decks over water or floodplain
- Expert guiding, with day and night drives on the private reserves
- Food and wine that has no business being this good this far into the bush
- Few guests, and on the private concessions, few other vehicles at a sighting
- Activities matched to the setting: mokoro and boat trips in the Delta, game drives along the Linyanti, meerkats and quad bikes on the pans
Rates are quoted as part of a safari itinerary. For child policies, price levels and what's included, see our Botswana safari lodges guide, and for the seasons, when to visit Botswana.
Tell us what you want from Botswana – water, predators, desert or simply total privacy – and we'll build the right camps into a tailor-made safari. We've been doing exactly that since 1999.
Luxury Escapes: Botswana's Top-End Safari Camps, Camp by Camp
Duba Explorers Camp
Rates form part of a safari itinerary
An explorer-style island camp in the Duba Plains private reserve in the northern Okavango Delta, from the Great Plains Conservation team. Guided walks, day and night drives, and mokoro or boat trips when water levels allow, from open-sided tents facing the channels.
Duba Plains Camp
Rates form part of a safari itinerary
If lion and buffalo drama is what you've come for, Duba Plains is built for it. Great Plains Conservation runs the camp on a remote private reserve of palm islands and floodplains in the northern Delta, and a separate two-bedroom suite suits families or friends.
Duke's Camp
Rates form part of a safari itinerary
Duke's is for travellers who want Jack's Camp theatre in the Delta: 1940s-style canvas, Persian rugs and lavish dining beside an island lagoon, in a private concession bordering Moremi. Mokoro, boat trips and day and night drives cover both water and land.
DumaTau Camp
Rates form part of a safari itinerary
Pick DumaTau for the Linyanti at its most elemental: elephants moving between woodland and water, and Osprey Lagoon in front of camp near the source of the Savute Channel. It's on a private reserve, so night drives and boat trips are on the menu.
Eagle Island Lodge
Rates form part of a safari itinerary
Book Eagle Island if water is the point of your trip. Belmond's lodge sits on palm-fringed Xaxaba Island, mokoro, motorboat and barge trips follow the flood, sundowners at the Fish Eagle Bar are a fixture, and every room has a plunge pool.
Jack's Camp
Rates form part of a safari itinerary
Nothing else in this collection feels like Jack's. Vast tents and plunge pools sit under fan palms on the edge of Ntwetwe Pan, dinner is served on crystal and silver, and days are spent with habituated meerkats, San guides and quad bikes on the Makgadikgadi.
Jack's Private Camp
Rates form part of a safari itinerary
An exclusive-use under-canvas villa set apart from Jack's Camp on the Makgadikgadi Pans: two bedroom suites, a lounge, library and private pool, with your own guide and chef. Built for families and friends who want the Jack's experience entirely to themselves.
Jao Camp
Rates form part of a safari itinerary
Jao sits on a private concession beside Moremi Game Reserve in the Okavango Delta. Game drives, mokoro trips and guided walks show both sides of the Delta, from elephant and lion on the islands to the rich birdlife of the waterways.
Kings Pool Camp
Rates form part of a safari itinerary
Kings Pool trades the Delta's channels for the Linyanti River: a lagoon-front camp in the private Linyanti Wildlife Reserve beside Chobe National Park, where elephant herds come down to the water. Tented suites have plunge pools, with game drives and boat trips.
Little Mombo Camp
Rates form part of a safari itinerary
Mombo's smaller sister camp on Chief's Island in Moremi Game Reserve, with only a handful of suites. You get the same island and its game-rich floodplains as Mombo, with a quieter, more private camp to come back to.
Mombo Camp
Rates form part of a safari itinerary
On Chief's Island in Moremi Game Reserve, Mombo is set among floodplains known for big-cat sightings. Raised suites look out over the plains, so lion, leopard or elephant may pass while you're still on your deck, and game drives explore the island.
North Island Okavango
Rates form part of a safari itinerary
A Natural Selection camp on its own private island in the Sekwana Concession, northern Okavango Delta. Tented suites have private decks and plunge pools over the lagoon, with game drives and walks, mokoro and boat trips, and helicopter flights over the Delta.
San Camp
Rates form part of a safari itinerary
A seasonal camp of white canvas tents beneath palms on the edge of Ntwetwe Pan, on a private concession bordering Makgadikgadi Pans National Park. Lantern-lit and pared back, it's about space and silence: meerkats, walks with San guides and pans to the horizon.
Savute Elephant Lodge
Rates form part of a safari itinerary
The Savuti is predator and elephant country, and Belmond's lodge puts you inside Chobe National Park to see it. Expect polished service and dining, game drives across marsh and woodland, and an easy pairing with a water camp in the Delta.
Selinda Camp
Rates form part of a safari itinerary
Great Plains Conservation's camp on the private Selinda Reserve, a wilderness of floodplains and woodland linking the Okavango Delta with the Linyanti and Savute corridors. Spacious suites, attentive service, and game drives and walks across the reserve.
Tawana Camp
Rates form part of a safari itinerary
Natural Selection's camp on the Gomoti River inside Moremi Game Reserve, created with the paramount chief of the Batawana. Choose it for land-based game viewing: lion, leopard and wild dog are often seen close to camp, and boat trips run on the river.
Vumbura Plains Camp
Rates form part of a safari itinerary
A strong choice if you can fit in only one Delta camp: Vumbura Plains, on a private concession in the far north, mixes floodplain with dry land, so mokoro and boat trips run alongside 4x4 game drives.
Xigera Safari Lodge
Rates form part of a safari itinerary
In a private concession within Moremi Game Reserve, south-west of Chief's Island, Xigera is part safari lodge, part gallery of African art and design. Land and water activities follow the flood, and a night in the sculptural Baobab Treehouse can be arranged.
Zarafa Camp
Rates form part of a safari itinerary
Botswana's first Relais & Châteaux property, Zarafa sits among ebony trees on the private Selinda Reserve, overlooking the Zibadianja Lagoon at the source of the Savute Channel. Tented suites have plunge pools and copper baths, with drives, walks and seasonal lagoon cruises.
Botswana Luxury Safari Lodges: Your Questions Answered
What makes these Botswana safari lodges luxurious?
Space, privacy and small numbers. Most are intimate tented camps or lodges with large suites, many with private plunge pools, and several sit on private concessions shared with few or no other camps. Botswana's high-value, low-volume tourism policy helps keep the wilderness around them quiet, so the experience feels genuinely exclusive.
Where in Botswana are these luxury lodges?
They are spread across Botswana's main safari regions. The Okavango Delta and Moremi Game Reserve hold the largest group; the Linyanti and Selinda reserves lie along the Linyanti River and Savute Channel; Savute Elephant Lodge is inside Chobe National Park; and Jack's Camp, Jack's Private Camp and San Camp are on the Makgadikgadi Pans.
Which luxury lodges are in the Okavango Delta and Moremi?
Mombo, Little Mombo, Tawana and Xigera are inside Moremi Game Reserve, with Mombo and Little Mombo on Chief's Island. Elsewhere in the Delta, mostly on private concessions, are Duba Plains, Duba Explorers, Duke's Camp, Eagle Island Lodge, Jao, North Island Okavango and Vumbura Plains, each with its own mix of water and land activities.
Which luxury camps are in the Linyanti and Selinda area?
DumaTau and Kings Pool sit on lagoons of the Linyanti River in the private Linyanti Wildlife Reserve, which borders Chobe National Park, while Selinda Camp and Zarafa Camp are on the private Selinda Reserve. Zarafa overlooks the Zibadianja Lagoon, the source of the Savute Channel, and DumaTau lies close by on Osprey Lagoon.
Which luxury lodges are on the Makgadikgadi Pans?
Jack's Camp, Jack's Private Camp and San Camp, all on the edge of the Makgadikgadi's salt pans. Here the draw is the desert itself: habituated meerkats, walks with San guides, quad-bike trips across the pans and enormous night skies. San Camp is a seasonal camp, and Jack's Private Camp is booked for one party at a time.
Can I book a luxury camp for my group alone?
Yes, a few properties in the collection can be reserved for your party only. Jack's Private Camp is an exclusive-use villa on the Makgadikgadi Pans with its own guide, chef and pool, while Zarafa's Dhow Suites and the two-bedroom Duba Plains Suite run separately from their main camps, giving families and friends real privacy.
Are any of these lodges Relais & Châteaux members?
Yes. Zarafa Camp in the Selinda Reserve was the first property in Botswana listed by Relais & Châteaux. It's a small tented camp beneath ebony trees on the Zibadianja Lagoon, where large suites with plunge pools and copper baths sit alongside game drives, guided walks and lagoon cruises when the water allows.
Map of Lodges in and around Botswana
Botswana Travel Topics
10 Reasons To Visit Botswana
Ten reasons, from the Okavango's flood and Chobe's elephant herds to the Makgadikgadi salt pans, Kalahari lions and San trackers, wild dogs in the Linyanti, mokoro trips, and a low-volume tourism policy that keeps vehicle numbers down.
Best Botswana Safari Lodges
Our pick of Botswana's safari lodges, region by region: Mombo and Xigera in the Delta, Chobe Game Lodge on the river, Jack's Camp on the pans and Savute Elephant Lodge, plus how to choose between them.
Botswana Chobe National Park
A practical guide to Chobe: getting there from Kasane, river cruises versus game drives, where the elephants come down to drink, the lodges we use, and how to add Victoria Falls on the way in or out.
The Perfect Okavango Delta Honeymoon Safari
Planning a honeymoon in the Okavango Delta: the camps that suit couples, from Camp Okavango to Mombo, with sunrise boat cruises, mokoro trips, and private dinners and helicopter flights where the camp offers them.
10 Reasons To Visit The Savuti
Ten reasons to put Savuti on your route: bull elephants, big lion prides, wild dogs, the Savuti Marsh, San rock art in the Gubatsa Hills, and a channel with a habit of drying up for years at a time.
5 Best Lodges In The Chobe National Park
Five lodges in and around Chobe National Park that we would happily send you to: Chobe Game Lodge with its all-female guiding team, Ngoma, Muchenje, Chobe Chilwero, and &Beyond Chobe Under Canvas, which moves camp to follow the game.
How Much Does It Cost to Go on a Safari in Botswana?
What a Botswana safari actually costs, and why: camping versus mobile versus lodge, the season you travel, flights between camps, park fees and tips, and where a few honest savings can be made.
10 Best Lodges In Okavango Delta
Ten Okavango Delta camps we rate, from Eagle Island and Xigera to Jao, Jacana and Duba Plains, with what each does best, from mokoro trips on the water to family suites and walking safaris.