Sandibe Safari Lodge

elegantly serviced with gentle safari activities

AndBeyond Sandibe Okavango Safari Lodge is located in the Chitabe Concession in the Okavango Delta area of northern Botswana.

This is one of the most interesting lodge designs in Africa. It apparently draws inspiration from the scales of a pangolin, a famously elusive type of anteater that is occasionally sighted in these parts. The curved main building contains very stylish lounge and dining areas, with an indoor stove type campfire. There is a separate spa building set to one side.

One aspect we always appreciate is the amount of wildlife that can come into camp. The most obvious animals here are the vervet monkeys that raid the dining room from their perches in the trees above and the elephants which regularly saunter through in search of the tasty seed-pods which drop from the trees.

Rooms

Guest accommodation at Sandibe Okavango Safari Lodge is in eight lavish suites, also in that characteristic pangolin design and with broad terraces including a private plunge pool. Unusually the rooms are fitted with air-con. Each room also has its own private butler to tend to your every need.

Activities

Sandibe Okavango Safari Lodge provides the following guided activities …

• Vehicle safari
• Walking safari
• Night vehicle safari

When it comes to trip shapes and durations in Botswana, most visitors combine 2, 3 or 4 lodges by light aircraft over 6-12 nights, one or two of which will usually be here in Okavango Delta, combined with the Linyanti Waterfront and/or Makgadikgadi areas.

These trips are often done in combination with further nights at the Victoria Falls and/or down in the Cape.

The usual stay duration in this area is 3-4 nights.

Seasonality

The Chitabe Concession offers reasonably strong wildlife viewing year round, but with considerable seasonal variations.

The Jun-Sep cool dry season is the classic time to visit, as the wildlife viewing is superb, with the animals being drawn in from the dry hinterland towards the rising floodwaters.

During the transition period between the peak of the dry season and the start of the green season, Oct-Dec, the Chitabe area in particular can become a real epicentre for wildlife activity, with the convergence of big herds of herbivores. This is the hot season and humidities are becoming uncomfortably high as the rains approach.

If the breaking rains coincide with areas of seasonal burning, the extremely nutritious green grasses that sprout within days, attract larger herds of grazers. This phenomenon appears to be more pronounced in Chitabe than any other part of the Okavango Delta.

During the Jan-Apr main season, the bush is verdant and beautiful, the animals are well-fed and there’s lots of wildflowers and baby animals around. The camps are significantly discounted and become increasingly attractive as the conditions improve through the period.

Getting there

Sandibe Lodge can only be accessed by light aircraft into the nearby Chitabe Airstrip, which has daily flight connections with all other camps in Okavango, Linyanti, the main airport at Maun (for connections to Central Kalahari, Nxai, Makgadikgadi and Johannesburg) and north to Kasane (for connections to Livingstone and Victoria Falls).

From the airstrip it is a drive of around 30 minutes to the camp, through some varied landscapes with good chances of some early animal sightings.

usually combined with at least one other camp in Botswana