Chitabe Camp

unusually serious safari guiding

Chitabe Camp is located in the Chitabe Concession in the Okavango Delta area of northern Botswana.

The camp is centred on a main building which is approached along a board-walk and is a very pleasant open-sided structure under thatch, containing the main bar, and lounge areas. Out front, steps lead down to a circular campfire area, whilst down at ground level behind is an outside dining ‘boma’. To the right of the main building as you look out there is a smaller lounge area which is often used for private dining, whilst to the left there is a small gift-shop and a board-walk leading down to the main dining area and on to a nice swimming pool area.

One aspect we always appreciate is the amount of wildlife that can come into camp. The most obvious animals here are the baboons, which can regularly be seen storming along the board-walks. One guest reported that one afternoon the youngsters decided to use the sloping roof of her tent as a slide, repeatedly climbing up the tree and launching themselves down onto it. Elephants can also regularly be seen and heard, munching their way between the rooms, as can smaller creatures such as bushbucks and squirrels. One surprise consequence of having glass doors in the rooms is that hornbills can often be seen tapping at their own reflections.

Rooms

Guest accommodation at Chitabe Camp is in eight tented suites, which are accessed along an impressive network of raised board-walks. Each room is essentially a Meru tent on a raised platform, with a nice verandah front, with glass sliding doors into the tent, a rather modern urban styled bedroom and an indoor bathroom with conventionally plumbed basins, shower and toilet, plus an outdoor shower. The bed is fitted with a large walk-in mosquito net.

Activities

Chitabe Camp provides the following guided activities …

• Vehicle safari
• Walking safari
• Helicopter safari (not included)
• 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

Chitabe Camp 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 45 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