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African Safaris and Tours
Botswana Star Beds
Sleep Under The Stars: Botswana Star Beds And Sleep-Outs
For many guests, a night on a star bed becomes the highlight of a Botswana safari. Instead of your tent or suite, you sleep out on an open deck, platform or hide in the bush, with the whole sky overhead and the night going on around you: hippos grunting in a channel, a jackal calling, perhaps the distant roar of a lion.
Not every camp offers one, and no two are the same. At Baines' Camp the four-poster beds wheel out onto your private deck. Dinaka has an elevated sleep-out deck, Kanana's sleep-out comes with its own bathroom and heated shower, Tubu Tree turns a hide into a star bed after dark, and at Xigera the sleep-out is a three-level steel treehouse shaped like a baobab.
The camp takes care of the setting up. At most, your guide drives you out late in the afternoon and collects you in the morning; at Savuti Camp the next morning's game drive starts from the star bed itself. What's provided varies from camp to camp, so check before you go, and wherever you sleep out, stay on the deck until you are collected.
Star beds depend on availability and the weather, and some camps set a minimum stay: most Wilderness Star Beds need at least three nights at the camp, with some exceptions. A night out pairs naturally with a Botswana honeymoon. Most of these star beds are in northern Botswana, where malaria risk changes with the season, so read Botswana malaria and malaria in Africa before you travel.
Botswana Camps With Star Beds And Sleep-Outs
Baines Camp
Rates form part of a safari itinerary
Every suite at Baines’ Camp, in a private concession bordering Moremi Game Reserve, has a four-poster sky bed on wheels. Roll it onto your private deck overlooking the Boro River and sleep to the Delta’s night sounds, with a star bath alongside.
Dinaka Camp
Rates form part of a safari itinerary
Dinaka’s sleep-out is an elevated deck in a quiet part of its private reserve on the northern edge of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. Expect a vast desert sky and Kalahari night sounds, and an easy pairing with time in the Okavango Delta.
Kanana Camp
Rates form part of a safari itinerary
Kanana’s sleep-out, in its private concession on the Xudum River in the south-western Okavango Delta, ends your afternoon activity with a fireside dinner. The bed sits under mosquito netting beside a private bathroom with a heated shower, and breakfast comes at dawn.
Little Tubu Tree Camp
Rates form part of a safari itinerary
Little Tubu is the intimate three-tent sister of Tubu Tree, linked by boardwalks on Hunda Island in the private Jao Reserve. Like its sister camp, it offers a night on the Star Bed, out in the western Okavango Delta under a vast African sky.
Savuti Camp
Rates form part of a safari itinerary
Savuti Camp sits on the Savuti Channel in the private Linyanti Wildlife Reserve. Its two-storey star bed, with ablutions, overlooks Zibadianja Lagoon, the channel’s source. You drive out in the afternoon and start the next morning’s game drive from the deck.
Tubu Tree Camp
Rates form part of a safari itinerary
Tubu Tree’s star bed is a hide on Hunda Island in the private Jao Reserve. After dark it becomes a sleep-out for up to four people, with a long-drop loo close by. Most Wilderness Star Beds need at least three nights at camp.
Xigera Safari Lodge
Rates form part of a safari itinerary
The Baobab Treehouse stands about 1 km from Xigera in Moremi Game Reserve: a steel baobab rising nearly 10 m above the floodplain. A spiral staircase climbs its three levels to an open-air deck, and when the water is high you may arrive by mokoro.
Botswana Star Beds: Frequently Asked Questions
What is a star bed on a Botswana safari?
A star bed is an open-air bed where you spend a night outside under the sky instead of in your tent or suite. In Botswana it is usually an elevated deck or a converted hide away from the main camp, though Baines' Camp wheels its beds onto your private deck and Xigera uses a three-level treehouse.
Which Botswana camps have star beds?
The camps in this collection with a star bed or sleep-out are Baines' Camp, Kanana Camp, Tubu Tree Camp, Little Tubu Tree Camp and Xigera Safari Lodge in the Okavango Delta, Savuti Camp in the Linyanti Wildlife Reserve, and Dinaka on the edge of the Central Kalahari. Each is set up differently.
Is sleeping out on a star bed safe?
Star beds are built for guests to sleep out safely. Wilderness raises its Star Beds off the ground and gives you a radio to a guide sleeping nearby; other camps set their own arrangements, so ask what applies. Wherever you sleep out, stay on the deck until you are collected.
Are there toilets at star beds?
Usually, yes, though the standard varies. Tubu Tree's star bed has a long-drop loo, Savuti's has ablutions, Kanana's sleep-out has a private bathroom with a heated shower, and the Xigera treehouse has its own bathroom. At Baines' Camp your en-suite is steps from the deck. Ask the camp what is provided.
Can you sleep under the stars without leaving camp?
Yes, at Baines' Camp. Its four-poster sky beds are on wheels and roll out onto your suite's private deck overlooking the Boro River, so you sleep under the stars without leaving camp, with a star bath on the deck too. Elsewhere in this collection the star bed is a deck, hide or treehouse away from the main camp.
What is the Baobab Treehouse at Xigera?
The Baobab Treehouse is Xigera Safari Lodge's sleep-out: a steel structure shaped like a baobab, about 1 km from the lodge, rising nearly 10 m above the floodplain. A spiral staircase climbs through its three levels, which hold a bedroom and bathroom with roll-up canvas walls and an open-air deck at the top.
Is there a star bed in the Kalahari?
Yes. Dinaka, in a private reserve on the northern boundary of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, has an elevated sleep-out deck in a quiet part of the reserve. It trades the Delta's waterways for open desert skies, and the camp combines well with a stay in the Okavango Delta.
Map of Lodges in and around Botswana
Botswana Travel Topics
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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.