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Okavango Delta, Botswana

Wilderness Chitabe

Price per night from$6,586.00

Price information

If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (inclusive of taxes and fees) available in the next 60 days.

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (USD6,586.00), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Wilderness Chitabe Photos

Style

Stilted stalwart

Setting

Deep in the Delta

Explore

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Hugged by a patchwork of diverse habitats in the Okavango Delta, adults-only Wilderness Chitabe is your ensconcing constant. Stilted suites mean free-roaming elephants are your trumpeting neighbours and guided game drives bring the rest of the Big Five into sharp focus. Adventure scores high at this in-the-wilds camp, but there are frills as well as thrills, courtesy of in-suite massages and a shaded pool deck.

Smith Extra

Get this when you book through us:

A locally crafted souvenir gift (worth around $50)

Facilities

Photos Wilderness Chitabe facilities

Need to know

Rooms

Eight suites.

Check–Out

10am, and check-in is at 2pm. Both are flexible, on request and subject to availability.

More details

Rates include all meals, drinks (apart from some premium alcohol), nature drives, guided hikes and some excursions. Extras to pay for include travel between camps, specialist excursions and spa treatments.

Also

Unfortunately this remote camp is not suitable for guests with limited mobility.

At the hotel

Viewing decks, sunken fire pit, elevated wooden walkways, reading area with books to borrow, boutique, laundry service (included, depending on your booking level) and WiFi in main lodge and suites. In rooms: air-conditioning, coffee- and tea-making kit, minibar, free bottled water, yoga mats and weights, hairdryer and Healing Earth bath products.

Our favourite rooms

Equal charm encompasses all eight of these stilted suites, where private terraces and platformed walkways put big-game sightings on your front step. Lofty ceilings cap airy interiors, and Botswanan-made handicrafts are your taste of local talent, but it’s the one-off wall hangings of Dave Hammam’s wildlife-themed photographs that have us cooing like a local blue-spotted dove.

Poolside

There’s a 10-metre swimming pool that welcomes lulling laps among shading sycamores and sun-dosed sessions on its woven sunloungers (perhaps with a tipple or two).

Spa

Herbal blends and oils are your post-adventure remedies at Wilderness Chitabe, where therapists are on-call to perform in-tent, tension-busting treatments whenever your body may call for it.

Packing tips

Curiosity doesn’t kill the cat around here, in fact, it might just help you spot a few.

Children

This Botswanan bolthole is for over-18s only.

Sustainability efforts

Wilderness takes a threefold approach to sustainability, aiming to protect (with sensitive management between people and wildlife), empower (by investing in the local community) and educate (supporting pathways out of poverty). In total, its camps help to protect six million acres of land, highlighting conservation and bringing tourism to rural areas across the African continent. Each camp treads lightly following a set of strict standards that apply to the construction and operation of each stay. Standards cover water and energy consumption; monitoring of waste and recycling, and supply chain management. Camps are audited twice yearly and must comply with at least 85 per cent of the requirements. Any shortfalls are targeted to be addressed before the next audit. Wilderness Chitabe is 100 per cent solar powered.

Food and Drink

Photos Wilderness Chitabe food and drink

Top Table

The dining area’s open-sided setting mean plates come paired with Delta-watching panoramas wherever you decide to sit.

Dress Code

Avoid startling your roaming residents and leave the bold and bright hues at home.

Hotel restaurant

Dining at Wilderness Chitabe is a fluid affair, with tailored-to-you meals that fit with the day’s scheduled activities. Evenings are your chance to come together with other guests and staff over drinks, before sitting down in the view-fronted dining area to an à-la-carte menu that’s guided by regional ingredients and seasonal crops. If you’re up and out early, expect a basic breakfast at camp, bolstered by drinks and snacks on the trail, before returning to an early lunch or brunch. Similarly, guided afternoon outings are always accompanied with on-location drinks and nibbles. 

Hotel bar

Sundowners, apéritifs and drinks around the sunken fire pit may well become part of your daily routine at Wilderness Chitabe, and you’re unlikely to go thirsty with staff on hand to take your order for drinks — hot, cold or something a little stronger. 

Last orders

Banish any expectations of set dining hours and embrace the fact that food and drink will be seamlessly integrated into your day just when you want it.

Room service

A minibar in your suite is stocked with soft drinks and low-alcohol options. When hunger strikes, wander over to the lodge, where staff will be happy to help.

Location

Photos Wilderness Chitabe location
Address
Wilderness Chitabe
Chitabe Camp
Okavango Delta
Botswana

In northern Botswana, Wilderness Chitabe sits in its namesake concession, along a southern stretch of the Okavango Delta that edges the Moremi Game Reserve.

Planes

Scheduled transfers with Wilderness Air touch down at Chitabe Airstrip, where you’ll be met by the Wilderness team and taken on the 40-minute drive to camp.

Automobiles

With such limited access and roads along the Okavango Delta, we’d strongly suggest leaving the driving to the locals.

Other

Once you’ve booked your safari stay, the Wilderness team will be in touch to arrange travel between camps — usually scheduled or private charter flights or helicopter transfers.

Worth getting out of bed for

Formed where the Okavango River flows into the Kalahari Desert, this Botswanan Delta is a locus for free-roaming wildlife, and its southeastern Chitabe Concession draws lions, leopards, cheetahs, elephants, buffaloes and wild dogs across a 69,000-acre expanse. Guided game drives secure sightings of the Big Five, while walking safari tours offer a deep dive into the Delta’s smaller species. There are night drives, too, for encounters with sun-shy critters, and helicopter trips bring a literal overview of this region’s diverse ecosystems.

Along with Delta stewart Chitabe, Wilderness has a bounty of camps across Botswana, starting with two flagship stays: best-in-class Wilderness Mombo is in a wildlife-rich spot where the Delta splits into its primary channels, and Wilderness Jao sits on a remote island, with stellar game viewing all year round and seasonal water safaris. North of the Delta, Wilderness Vumbura Plains has water safaris all year round. The sextet wraps up with two camps that are a little different for Botswana: Wilderness DumaTau sits on a panoramic plateau, flanked by storied elephant crossings. Helicopter into Wilderness Mokete — a remote, lighter-weight stay that’s relatively new; if you’re heading here, make it your first stop. 

Local restaurants

All meals and snacks are included with your stay — whether back at the lodge for dinner or out in the bush for a mid-drive pitstop. 

Reviews

Photos Wilderness Chitabe reviews

Anonymous review

By Mr & Mrs Smith

Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this canvas camp beside the Moremi Game Reserve and unpacked their safari hats and trail shoes, a full account of their immersive break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Wilderness Chitabe in the Okavango Delta…

In northern Botswana, where the Okavango River meets the Kalahari Desert, adults-only Wilderness Chitabe has been revamped into an all-frills launchpad for exploring this remote concession’s riverine forests and sprawling grasslands.

Wooden walkways float between stilted suites, where airy interiors nod to your locale with lofty vaulted ceilings, handicrafts and Dave Hammam photography, and private decks serve as wildlife-watching platforms. Elephants, giraffes, antelopes and zebras are frequently sighted, free-roaming residents around camp, but close-up encounters come courtesy of guided daily game drives. Twitchers will find their wings on bird-focused safari walks, and if you’d rather a hawk’s-eye view of this wonder-filled wetland, helicopter rides are set to suffice. 

Adventure is countered with convivial downtime back at camp, where in-tent treatments and sun-soaked swims are your restorative tonic, and regional fare, punchy sundowners and fireside stargazing bring welcome bonhomie to laidback evenings. This long-standing camp continues to be a keeper…

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Price per night from $6,586.00

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