The landlocked African country of Botswana is a regular inclusion on travel experts’ top travel destinations – and not without good reason. Best known for its rare combination of desert and delta, as well as a vast array of wildlife, over 17% of the country is dedicated to national parks, and in 2014 the Okavango Delta became UNESCO’s 1,000th World Heritage Site. That means a Botswana safari offers up varied safari holiday across a broad expanse of savannah, desert, saltpan and wetland in one of the most pristine wildlife destinations in Africa.
Specialist safari operator, Sanctuary Retreats, operates several luxury boutique properties in Botswana. One of the most intimate is the classic tented Sanctuary Stanley’s Camp. Set in a private concession in Botswana’s Okavango Delta, the property offers an extraordinary private safari experience. The Camp boasts ten luxury canvas tents – each featuring its own deck, with views over the dramatic flood plains, allowing for some spectacular game viewing. Interiors and fittings include authentic touches like woven basket lights, made by local Botswanan craftsmen. And, of course, each one also comes with all the five-star fixtures and fittings you would expect from one of the world’s leading boutique safari operators, replete with compact gym boxes filled with yoga equipment, a minibar and a coffee station.
In keeping with Sanctuary Retreats’ philosophy of Luxury Naturally, Sanctuary Stanley’s Camp has also been deliberately designed with sustainability in mind. Each of its tents are intended to leave the lightest possible footprint on the local environment, and the Camp also operates its own solar farm on site.
An inviting outdoor bar area and central tent house the appropriately named Explorer Lounge, with its unrivalled views over the flood plains giving guests an incredible wilderness experience in wide screen format – literally, making it the ideal spot to relax after a day of safari.
Game drives in this region are unique, with water crossings forming an integral part of any safari adventure. The Okavango Delta is of course flooded for much of the year and when it is, guests can experience serene silence at the gentle pace of a poled mokoro excursion along the narrow channels. Sit back and relax as you glide through lily ponds on local dugout canoes while seeing eye to eye with buffalo, crocodiles, hippos and expect to see elephants, zebra and even the occasional giraffe grazing belly-deep in water.
Guests staying at the Camp can also take advantage of a unique opportunity to spend half a day walking with Jabu and Morula, a pair of semi-habituated orphaned elephants, observing and interacting with them in their natural environment. This extraordinary experience allows guests to join a foraging trek, steered by the elephants, and observe at close quarters how they search peacefully for food, stripping leaves from branches with their trunks, shaking trees for palm nuts and spraying themselves in the Delta’s lagoons.
Prices at Sanctuary Stanley’s Camp start from USD635 per person per night, based on two people sharing, including all meals and drinks (excluding premium brands), scheduled game activities, and transfers to and from Livingstone Airport and Stanley’s airstrip respectively. And for even better savings, take advantage of Sanctuary Retreats’ extended stay offer 2020, when you stay at one or more of Sanctuary Retreats’ properties including Sanctuary Stanley’s Camp depending on your season of travel.
Stay 4 – 6 nights and save up to 30%.
Stay 7+ nights and save up to 40%.
Terms and conditions apply.
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