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The Signature Collection

Luxury, fully hosted, inside the private concessions.

Premier camps of six to twelve tents in Botswana’s private concessions, all internal transfers by light aircraft, and a Safari Host from arrival to departure.

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Why the concessions matter

Night drives, walking safaris, and nobody else at the sighting.

Botswana leases enormous private concessions to a small number of operators, on strict terms and with tight bed limits. Inside them the national park rules do not apply, which means you can drive after dark with a spotlight and walk with an armed professional guide — two of the best things you can do on a safari.

It also means vehicle density collapses. Linyanti, Selinda and the Delta’s water concessions run at a fraction of the traffic you would meet in a park, and it is entirely normal to spend an hour with a leopard and never see another vehicle.

It is an expensive way to travel, and worth being honest about why: you are paying for space and for permission, not for a better room.

African wild dog in the Linyanti concession, Botswana
One journey

The Signature Collection

Every itinerary below is a private departure and can begin any day of the year. The day-by-day flow is how we would run it as written — and every one is a starting point we expect to rewrite around you.

The Okavango Delta from the air, water threading between palm islands

The Great Okavango

  • 10 days
  • Delta water · floodplain · Linyanti · Savuti
  • Signature Collection
  • from USD 800 pp/day

Ten days and four camps, none of them much like the one before it. This is the route we tend to build for people who have already travelled a good deal and want the differences rather than the highlights.

You start on permanent water in the western Delta, where the safari happens by boat and mokoro and the game comes to you. Then a seasonal floodplain camp, where the water pulls back through the year and the land animals move in behind it. Then Linyanti, a private concession with very little vehicle traffic, where you can drive after dark and walk with a guide because it is not a national park. Then Savuti, whose lion prides are among the most studied in Africa and have a reputation the guides do not exaggerate.

Every leg is flown, which turns out to be part of the trip rather than a way of shortening it. The Okavango from a thousand feet, channels drawn out below you like veins in a leaf, is the thing people describe first when they get home.

How the days run

  1. Day 1Arrive in Maun. Light aircraft west into the permanent Delta. Afternoon boat cruise through the channels.
  2. Days 2–3Water safaris by mokoro and motorboat, island walks, and catch-and-release fishing in season. Sitatunga, red lechwe and some of the best birding in the country.
  3. Day 4Fly to a seasonal floodplain camp. The safari turns to land: game drives morning and afternoon, with the flood edge moving through the year.
  4. Days 5–6Two full days on the floodplains. Leopard in the riverine woodland, elephant crossing at dusk, and wild dog if the season is with you.
  5. Day 7Fly north to Linyanti. Afternoon drive, then a night drive with a spotlight — permitted here in a way it is not in the national parks.
  6. Day 8A guided walking safari at first light with an armed professional guide, and an afternoon on the Linyanti waterway.
  7. Day 9Fly to Savuti. The marsh, the sandridge and the lion prides that work them — the most dramatic predator country in northern Botswana.
  8. Day 10A final morning drive, then fly back to Maun or on to Kasane for Victoria Falls.
  • Best monthsMay to October, when the flood is high in the west and the game concentrates in the east
  • Where you sleepFour premier camps of six to twelve tents inside private concessions, with plunge pools and dedicated guide-and-tracker teams
  • Who it suitsHoneymooners, celebration travel, serious photographers, and guests who have already seen East Africa

Enquire about The Great Okavango

Indicative from-rates are per person per day, excluding international flights, and vary by season. Compare all four collections, or ask a Travel Designer for a quotation against your dates.

Included at this level

What Signature adds.

All transfers by light aircraft

No long road days. Every leg is flown, which buys you time in camp and gives you the Delta from the air between each one.

Night drives and walking safaris

Permitted in the private concessions where national parks do not allow them. Two entirely different ways to see the same country.

A Safari Host, arrival to departure

One person who handles every transfer, check-in and detail for the length of the journey, so you never manage logistics.

A lion in the Savuti marsh, northern Botswana
A leopard descending from a tree in Botswana
Aerial view of the Linyanti wetlands in northern Botswana
A pack of African wild dogs in northern Botswana
Before you book

The Signature Collection, answered.

What does a private concession actually give me?

Three things national parks cannot. Night drives with a spotlight, which is when a great deal of Botswana’s wildlife is active. Guided walking safaris with an armed professional guide. And very low vehicle density: a concession the size of a small country with three camps in it, so you do not share your leopard with anybody.

How small are these camps?

Six to twelve tents, typically. That means twelve to twenty-four guests in an area measured in hundreds of square kilometres. It also means the camp learns your name, your coffee and your bedtime within a day.

What does the Safari Host do?

Everything you would otherwise have to think about. They meet you at Maun or Kasane and stay with you to departure — every transfer, every check-in, every light-aircraft connection, every dietary note, every preference passed ahead to the next camp. Guests usually notice them most on the day something goes wrong and nothing appears to.

Is all the flying a problem?

It is part of the experience rather than a cost of it. The Okavango from a thousand feet, with the channels drawn out below you, is one of the sights of the trip. Light aircraft have strict soft-bag weight limits — usually around 20kg — and we brief you on that before you pack. All internal flights on our journeys are carbon offset.

Is this the right tier for a honeymoon?

Usually, yes. Small camps, private decks, sleep-outs on a star bed, a private dinner arranged without anybody announcing it. See themed journeys for how we shape it.

Tell us what you want this journey to feel like.

Not just what you want to see. Send a few lines about who is travelling and roughly when, and we will come back to you with something written for you rather than pulled off a shelf.

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