Sitatunga Private Island

Where Sitatunga Private Island sits

Sitatunga Private Island occupies an isolated island where the Okavango Panhandle opens into the Delta proper. This is permanent-water country: deep channels, papyrus and lagoons rather than the seasonal floodplains of the southern Delta, and the camp is reached and worked entirely by boat.

Two suites only

There are two suites, set up in the ebony canopy, each looking out over lagoon and Delta water. Two suites is about as small as a camp can be: this is effectively a private island house, and sole use is the natural way to book it.

The suites

Each suite has a private indoor lounge, a double-vanity bathroom, environmentally sensitive air-conditioning, an outdoor sala and a plunge pool. Being up in the tree canopy gives the rooms an outlook across the water that a ground-level camp cannot match.

The main area

The main area is built from thick pole woodwork and bamboo under thatch-covered canvas roofs, furnished with vintage Persian carpets, blue trade-bead curtains and flowing silk and linen. The design brief was Robinson Crusoe: a desert-island aesthetic with salvage references that nod to local Bayei fishing heritage, carried through in a blue water theme.

Dining

Dining is overseen by an executive chef, with an emphasis on the culinary traditions of Botswana’s river people. In a two-suite camp the kitchen can genuinely cook to the table rather than to a service.

Boat excursions

Motorised boats work the lagoons and the deeper river channels. On the Panhandle side of the Delta the water is permanent, so boating is not seasonal here.

Mokoro

Poled mokoro trips run in the smaller waterways. The mokoro is the Bayei’s own craft, and using it in the channels it was designed for is the closest thing to how this landscape has always been travelled.

Walking

Guided walking is offered on the islands, providing the land counterpart to a programme that is otherwise almost entirely on water.

Fishing

Tag-and-release fishing runs from March to December, outside Botswana’s closed season on the Okavango. The Panhandle is the country’s best fishing water.

Wildlife and who it suits

The island setting brings sitatunga, the shy semi-aquatic antelope the camp is named for and one of the hardest animals to see in the Delta, along with elephant, crocodile and hippo. Sitatunga Private Island is a Relais and Chateaux member and part of Great Plains’ Reserve Collection. It suits couples, small families and anyone who wants water rather than game drives, at the top end of comfort.