Good-Value Botswana’s Okavango Delta

Your first day on safari is always a good one, and when you arrive at Mapula, you won’t be disappointed. Leap into action on a game drive, or settle into your surroundings with a crisp G&T in camp as the sun goes down.

Mapula Lodge is a stylish safari outpost with serious panache. Even better, it’s one of only a handful of camps in the concession making for exhilarating game viewing in a blissfully uncrowded area. The main building of the Lodge with its extensive decks overlooks the permanent lagoon where the resident pod of hippopotamus resides. It is here where guests will find the comfortable lounge, dining area and a bar area with one of the best views in the Okavango Delta. A small library and swimming pool complete the central area.

For the next 2 days, your experience in the Delta may be fulfilled with all-day game drives, or park at a waterhole and let the animals meander around you. Spend a day floating around the watery wonderland on a boat safari to watch hippo jousting for territory and crocodile basking in the sun. Guests may even watch game from the cool depths of the swimming pool and watch the steady stream of wildlife at the lagoon in front of camp. After a day of activities, relax in the 'chill pit' overlooking the lagoon and enjoy the unforgettable sunset views before you retire.

A short flight will take you to Khwai Private Reserve, where you’ll settle into your bright and breezy tent at Sable Alley.

Sable Alley is a piece of light, bright and beautiful luxury amid the game-rich floodplains of Khwai, and the best news is that it’s as sustainable as it is sophisticated. The Khwai Private Reserve provides access to diverse habitat on the northern edge of the Okavango Delta. This habitat includes water, flood plains, riparian woodlands and mopane woodland and supports healthy populations of plains game as well as predators including lion, leopard and wild dog. Elephants occur in abundance and there are sightings of the sable antelope for which camp is named.

The camp has incredible vistas, overlooking a lagoon and onward over vast flood plains, and comprises a main area with lounge, bar, and fire pit. The camp also features a swimming pool and sun deck, both unique spots from which to watch the hippo pods emerge from the lagoon, or simply for some chill-out time in the heat of the day. The ten twin and two family tents are raised to provide incomparable views over the floodplains. All are en-suite with private verandas and both indoor and outdoor showers. 

 Fulfil your stay at Sable Alley with a game drive along the Khwai River, watching the comings and goings of the wildlife, mokoro excursions (water levels dependent), or lace up your walking boots and explore the reserve on foot. The game viewing in the area around Sable Alley is fantastic, and you’ll find lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo all in close proximity as well as a multi-coloured array of birdlife.

For some chill-out time after a day of activities, watch the happenings at the lagoon from the bar, G&T in hand, from the outdoor fire pit, or from a squashy sofa in the lounge. At night, dine either in the indoor dining area or alfresco on the deck, accompanied by twinkling stars and the rumblings and grumblings of the wildlife before retiring to your tent.

On top of all the special treats this week has bestowed on you, is the piece de resistance: a night at the Hyena Pan Skybeds. Just a short drive from Sable Alley, the Skybeds are an animal-proof raised platform where you will be elevated above the floodplain in a comfortable open-air bedroom suite.

There is nothing like a night in the wild: as your eyes adjust to the dark, you may spot quite anteaters, porcupines and aardvarks quietly coming out of their burrows. Spring hares will emerge, nightjars will begin to sing and, if you are really lucky, you may hear the far-off huffing of a leopard on the prowl, the earnest contact calling of lions the hunt or the unmistakable whooping of hyenas defending a kill. The stars and moon will radiate their cosmic glow, and you will be able to make out all the significant constellations.

In a few hours, you will be wakened by sunbeams coming up over the horizon and your guide arriving with hot coffee and tales of the night’s travails. Before you know it, you will be boarding another plane back to Maun for your next set of adventures.