Xugana Island Lodge

Xugana was a smaller lodge and more to our liking. Again, the accommodation was comfortable and had all we needed for our stay. The water safaris were a new experience for us and very enjoyable. The nature walk was a welcome change from sitting still for hours on trips out. On our last night, we were treated to a special dinner out on the lagoon with just ourselves and a member of staff serving food and drinks. It was a wonderful end to this leg of the holiday.

Knowledgeable guides on safari and Mokoro (every bird, antelope, insect, frog, animal tracks in the sand — they knew it all and found the lions after tracking them). The guide at Xugana Island Lodge drove the vehicle so the light would be optimal for photographs. He had an encyclopedic knowledge of the animals in the reserve and used reference manuals to help identify birds.

Final dinner at Xugana Island Lodge was the most memorable experience of them all. The staff said a farewell to me mentioning it was my last night. The candlelit dinner in the bush under the stars brought tears to my eyes. No one has ever, I mean, ever been so kind and generous to me on a vacation. It was a beautiful experience.

We had the most amazing and enjoyable time and everything was excellently organised by you. I think our ultimate highlight was seeing a successful wild dog hunt right in front of us just to name one of many highlights. I posted a tiny selection of photo’s on my facebook page if you haven’t seen any of my photo’s yet.
Thanks for everything and by talking with other guests and guides, we definitely want to go back and explore even more of Botswana so we’ll be in contact again at some point in the future (once we save some more money!!).

Xugana – very friendly staff, nice lodge, walking safari

We all agreed that the three camps we did (Xugana, Leroo La Tau, and Savute) offered a diverse perspective from a landscape and animal standpoint and were therefore a really nice complement. The order in which we did the camps was also great. We started in Xugana which is much more relaxing and tranquil and that was what we needed after a very long journey from the US. The location of the camp in the Okavango delta is stunning and I'm so glad we got to spend some time there.

This is a permanent water camp so only water activities and walking are offered. Good to combine with a land camp but perfect for those wanting a bit of relaxation while on safari.

Xugana Island Lodge has a terrific location and wonderful al fresco dining. We also appreciated the free drinks and laundry (as we did for the Chobe Game Lodge) : it is a small thing, monetarily, to provide these services, but they are very much appreciated.

The lodge was absolutely amazing. As it turned out, a couple of people from my group were there at the same time so it was very pleasant. The food at the lodge was awesome! And I loved the activities and the fact that we had “siesta” time.

The accommodations were first class, and the food excellent. guides at the camps were unbelievable especially at Xuagana

2 nights here on this trip was just right. I did 4 activities including 2 walks which I really enjoyed. Staff were excellent. Guides Kitso and Body were great, They were very easy to talk to.

This came out the favourite mostly because we got the chance to walk and track animals on foot which after sitting in jeeps was jolly nice. Also loved the water situation there and we met up with two super Swiss couples. It’s amazing – most of the time we were in the minority being British! Everything done in English but not many of us around. We saw lots of game and wonderful birds and enjoyed the whole holiday.

We loved the lodge and the staff were great. We really enjoyed all of the activities and hope to go back during the dry season.

We were also blown away by our Botswana experience. We heard good things about the South Africa game parks that we were going to visit, but I am so grateful you steered us to Botswana instead. Desert and Delta does a great job welcoming, entertaining and accommodating guests. We were impressed with both Xugana and Savute, but loved Xugana most for it’s more intimate feel. Beyond the lodges and the animals there, the experience of traveling by light aircraft over the Botswana landscape was memorable. So glad we did that.