Moremi Crossing

best-suited to larger groups and families

Moremi Crossing is located in the Okavango Gunns area of the Okavango Delta in northern Botswana.

This property is around twice the size of most camps in the delta. It is centred on a rather cavernous open-sided structure under thatch. There are various smaller lounge areas scattered around and a single main dining area, as well as a small gift-shop. To one side there is a separate swimming pool area.

One aspect we always appreciate is the amount of wildlife that can come into camp. Guests invariably describe this particular camp as being “under siege” by the local elephants, especially during August when they come to collect palm-nuts. Although guests generally appreciate this very close proximity, the elephants often break things and have to be chased out by staff on a regular basis. The local baboons can be similarly troublesome, but the warthogs, bats and fireflies that are also often seen here tend to be less of an issue.

Rooms

Guest accommodation at Moremi Crossing is in sixteen tented rooms arranged along the edge of the woodland and accessed by ground-level pathways. These rooms take the form of Meru tents on raised decks, with a verandah out front and a conventional door leading into the bedroom space, behind which there is an indoor bathroom with conventionally plumbed basin and toilet, a further door leading to an outside shower. A honeymoon suite includes an outside bath-tub, raised up on a deck to provide a view over the surrounding reed-beds. A family suite has an extra bedroom, but just the one shared bathroom.

Activities

Moremi Crossing provides the following guided activities …

• Mokoro canoe safari
• Motorboat safari
• Vehicle safari (in dry years during May-Dec)
• Village visits

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 Okavango Gunns area is 2-4 nights.

Seasonality

The Gunns Concession experiences considerable seasonal variations.

The May-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. However, here in the southwest of the Okavango Delta the flood is usually late and, in recent years, has become unreliable and relatively light, potentially affecting the availability of the area’s iconic mokoro canoe safaris. If the floodplains are dry, then walking safari becomes possible and some camps are permitted to offer vehicle safari.

During the transition period between the peak of the dry season and the start of the green season, Oct-Dec, the Gunns Concession area can be 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. When the rains break, the wildlife disperse quickly into the vast hinterlands in search of better grazing and becomes much more difficult to access.

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. Water levels are likely to be low during this period, meaning that the availability of mokoro canoe safari can be rather unpredictable. If the floodplains are dry but walking and vehicle safari may be offered. The Boro River channel usually continues to flow all year, so motorboat safari should be possible throughout.

The camps are significantly discounted and become increasingly attractive as the conditions improve through the period.

Getting there

The Okavango Gunns area can only be accessed by light aircraft into the nearby 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).

Moremi Crossing is within walking distance of the airstrip, which is kind of cool, first along a sandy track and then along a low board-walk.

Unusually the camp can also be accessed from Maun by boat, a couple of hours up the Boro River, initially passing small villages and settlements, isolated cattle farms and mixed, marginal floodplain woodlands. After the Buffalo Fence the terrain changes into the wide open spaces of classic Okavango Delta, with channels lined by reedbeds and papyrus giving way to the open floodplains where the camp is situated.

usually combined with at least one other camp in Botswana