We’re so excited about this little camp: with just four tents, set on stilts in a cluster of ebony trees, you don’t get more personal or private than this – and being upstream or at the top end of the Okavango Delta, North Island gets the life-giving flood waters first, ensuring water-based activities almost all year. This is a huge plus, as is the fact that you can easily book it exclusively as a family or with close friends for a very personal Delta safari.
Given North Island’s location, game viewing options are some of the most rewarding in Botswana, whether sightings are from the comfort of your game vehicle, in the water or on a scenic helicopter flight. But it’s the gentle mokoro trips that traverse lily-filled channels or slow boat ‘meanders’ through one of the most unique and fragile wetlands in the world that sets an Okavango Delta safari apart. Quietly observing animals and abundant birdlife from low-level mokoros splicing through crystal-clear waters is an unexpectedly humbling and thrilling experience – often with a good measure of adrenaline thrown in, especially when buffalo or elephant congregate in their numbers to drink nearby.
Witness the wildest grasslands, with the largest concentration of lions frequently on the hunt for buffalo, alongside exotic palm-strewn islands; shimmering flood plains alive with leaping lechwe; deeper waters loved by hippos or shorelines dotted with basking crocs. Forested clusters of ebony, leadwood, wild fig and mangosteen trees often play host to leopard, not to mention over 350 species of bird recorded here.
Every day is an adventure and no matter how many times you visit, it enchants and seduces in equal measure. Our advice is to combine a visit to this sizable concession, situated to the west of Duba Plains and Vumbura, with at least one other camp to give you a deeper sense of just how varied a game experience can be in Botswana – whether it’s the romantic Jack’s Camp in the Makgadikgadi, on the edge of a salt pan that stretches as far as the eye can see, or beautiful Tuludi in the Khwai Private Reserve.
What we love!
• That each of the tents (on raised wooden platforms) has a sleeper couch for two extra kids so it’s wonderfully family friendly for children over the age of six.
• North Island is completely off-grid with solar-power and an environmentally friendly air-conditioning system in addition to ceiling fans over beds.
• This is one of the few camps where you can fish (April to December only, not permitted during breeding season from January to March).
• You can also explore this beautiful wilderness on foot with a guide, but if you still haven’t had enough exercise, there’s an outdoor gym.
• That you’ll wake to the unmistakable sound of hippos and might even spot the beautiful Pel’s fishing owl. Bird lovers will tick many boxes…
What you need to know…
• Scenic helicopter flights are an additional cost and offer spectacular game viewing, but you can combine this experience with a visit to Tsodilo Hills (100kms away), home to some of Botswana’s most ancient rock art.
• There is currently Wi-Fi available in the suites only, and there’s a well-stocked library or books.
• The dry winter months in the Delta are, ironically, when water levels are at their best.
• October to March are the green season months, when it rains – but it comes in short bursts with a spectacular build-up of clouds and dramatic sunsets afterwards (a photographer’s dream).
• You can enjoy a visit to one of the lodge’s partners in a nearby village and learn more about why having a camp in this remote area can have a positive impact on local communities as well as conservation.
Reviewed by Michelle Snaddon