andBeyond Xaranna Okavango Delta Camp

On a private island in the deeper channels of the Okavango Delta’s permanent water zone in Botswana, andBeyond Xaranna Okavango Delta Camp occupies one of the most water-surrounded positions available in the Delta system, with channels on multiple sides of the island creating an aquatic environment that makes the camp feel genuinely islanded within the delta’s inland sea rather than simply positioned beside a water feature. The nine tented suites are built directly at the channel edge, with views across the water to the papyrus walls and the floodplain beyond in an orientation that places the Delta’s aquatic life — the hippo pods, the fishing eagles, the sitatunga antelope swimming between reed beds — at the centre of the daily visual experience. The channel’s depth and permanence mean that the Delta’s aquatic character here is consistent year-round rather than seasonal.

Mokoro excursions are the signature activity at Xaranna, with the permanent water and the diversity of the channel network providing the most productive conditions for the traditional dugout canoe experience available in the Delta system. The polers who guide the mokoros are drawn from the communities of the western Delta whose mastery of the waterways reflects generations of intimate knowledge of the channel system’s navigation. Motorised boat game drives, walking safaris on the island and in the surrounding woodland, and night drives complete the programme. The Delta’s bird diversity — over 400 recorded species in the Okavango system — gives the specialist birding programme at Xaranna exceptional material to work with.

andBeyond Xaranna’s environmental approach to its island position includes active management of the channel vegetation to maintain the openness that allows wildlife movement between the islands, and partnership with the surrounding communities in water resource management that reflects the Delta’s shared dependence on the Okavango’s annual flood pulse for both wildlife and human livelihoods.