Lady’s Okavango Delta Safari Guide

Today I want to share my Okavango Delta safari guide with you. This part of Botswana is a great place to travel in Africa, and the wildlife here is amazing to see up close.

Okavango Delta Safari

I’m terrified of bush planes. When I visited Namibia, I nearly had a heart attack on a four-seater flight to what ended up being my favorite hotel in the world.

But to travel to Botswana’s Okavango Delta from Kasane, where my friend and I drove after our dream-like stay on the Zambezi River, it’s pretty much the only option. I take a deep breath, buckle my seatbelt, and hope for the best.

I know I’m doing better than last time when my eyes don’t instinctively snap shut on takeoff. As we soar over the famous Chobe National Park, I peer out the window over the parched ground of the bush, searching for elephants.

Pushing thoughts of fiery deaths and failed propellers out of my mind, I start taking photos.

Not long later, I come out of a daze and realize that I’ve spent 20 minutes not fearing for my life. Progress. Maybe bush planes aren’t so bad after all. In fact, maybe they’re actually pretty great.

I’m much closer to the ground than in a normal plane, and as we fly over the Okavango Delta, the landscape is so lush and beautiful I feel like I’m gliding above a petri dish full of vibrant live cultures.

And cultures there are. The elephants are out in full force, and I can see many herds as we fly past. Over their heads, birds of prey spread their wings at our very cruising altitude, offering us a glimpse into their hawk-eyed world.

Nxabega Okavango Tented Camp

By the time we land, I find myself actually wishing the flight were longer. But I transfer to the safari vehicle that my lodge, &Beyond’s Nxabega Okavango Tented Camp, has sent.

&Beyond came highly recommended by some of my South African blogger friends in London, and I am excited they’ve offered me a two-night Okavango Delta safari in Botswana.

As we drive to the camp, we notice that there’s been a recent bush fire on the property’s private game reserve. All around us, the chalky skeletons of cremated trees lie in the charred earth.

Our driver tells us the fire happened a week prior, and I worry it will affect our game viewing. But the area is teeming with life, and there’s no reason to fret.

Once at the camp, we’re welcomed with a song and refreshing drink as we walk into the open-air Okavango Delta safari lodge.

It’s decorated in the perfect safari decor, with ostrich eggs and leather-bound books sitting on heavy wooden tables surrounded by overstuffed chairs.

We sit for a short orientation before walking to our tent along a sandy path. Inside is a huge bed along with a desk and tables, as well as a separate partitioned area with a bathroom and open shower. It’s luxury in a tent.

Back at the Okavango Delta safari lodge, we explore the pool area before getting distracted by a resident hippo we spot through the tall reeds around the watering hole.

Soon birds of all feathers are soaring overhead, giving us a little taste of what’s to come on our game drive that evening.

Okavango Delta Safari Game Drives

It starts off on a high note, with a rare sighting of a pack of three wild dogs. Our driver explains to us that he sometimes goes years without seeing them, so we feel lucky to be able to get up close.

We trail the dogs for over an hour, watching as they run through the grass and scare a group of impalas away from a local watering hole.

Afterwards we spot elephants as we pull over for sundowners and watch the sky turn red and purple behind the trees. It’s a great start to our Okavango Delta safari experience.

The next morning we’re back out in the bush, heading to a river for a mokoro canoe safari. But we get sidetracked by a lioness with a couple of week-old cubs.

They’re so small they can barely walk, and we sit mesmerized by them for an hour as a fellow lioness lounges in the grass nearby.

Moving on, we come across two male lions sitting in a clearing. Regal in bearing and sporting stunning manes, they’re true kings of the jungle (er, the bush).

By the time we make it to the river, our time for the canoe safari is running out. But we make the most of it and spend a half an hour on the water looking at tiny frogs, pretty lilies, and lots of little fish.

It’s a unique way to see the wildlife on an Okavango Delta safari, and I start to understand why people say Botswana is the best place for safaris in Africa.

That evening I understand it even better. We drive back out to the water’s edge, this time for a boat safari. After piling in, our guide speeds through the narrow waterways, past hippos and over giant catfish.

Along the way we spot all kinds of bird life, from iridescent malachite kingfishers to giant fish eagles with prey in their talons. We even spot a baby crocodile sunning itself on a rock.

The next morning our Okavango Delta safari has us back on land. As soon as we leave the camp we witness one of the rarest scenes I’ve ever seen on safari: a lemur-ish, cat-like genet perched on top of a giant termite mound hissing and fighting with an African wild cat.

Both are rare to find at any time, but to see them together in the daylight sparring over what appears to be the genet’s home is an amazing sight.

As I watch them, I can’t help but think that while we’ve seen less of the “usual” safari animals in this area (we only see a handful of giraffes, buffalo, elephants, and zebra on our Okavango Delta safari), there are a lot of rare and unique ones, and more bird species than I’ve ever seen.

Okavango Delta Safari Meals

Back at Nxabega Okavango Tented Camp, we enjoy our meals al fresco on the terrace, where the occasional monkey comes to snatch a snack at breakfast (the food is good, so we can’t blame them for wanting to try it).

On the final night of our Okavango Delta safari, the staff prepares a beautiful lantern-lit dinner around the pool terrace for all the guests.

The quiet atmosphere, great food, and starlight of the bush all add up to a memorable evening.

Okavango Delta Safari: The Verdict

And then it’s time to go home. My friend is heading back to Lusaka, and I on to Johannesburg. We say our good-byes, and my little bush plane takes me on another spectacular flight over the Okavango Delta.

When I arrive in Maun, I find that Air Botswana has decided to re-route my flight via Kasane before heading to South Africa, which delays us by an hour and a half.

It’s not the ideal way to end my Okavango Delta safari, but given the high I’m on, I don’t mind staying in the air just a little bit longer.

Want to see more? Watch my Africa travel video and discover all the places I went on my trip to Southern Africa.

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