Natural Selection’s new camp, North Island Okavango – situated in NG23A, one of the most beautiful and game-rich areas of the Okavango Delta, just northwest of both Duba Plains and Vumbura – will open in June 2023.
Offering an Okavango Delta safari experience like no other, the camp will feature just three premier tents, one very private island and a hive of year-round safari activities to choose from.
The range of activities includes game drives, mokoro (dug-out boat) safaris, Delta boating, nature walks, hot-air ballooning and scenic helicopter flights (including Tsodilo Hills, which is just a just 25-minute flight away).
Being at the upstream end of the Okavango Delta, this area receives the annual floodwaters first, which opens up water-based viewing activities all year, to offer off-the-chart wildlife watching experiences.
The camp is surrounded by a variety of islands linked together by shining lagoons and transient channels. Over 350 species of birds have been recorded in the area and all of the key Okavango specials and near endemics are to be found here.
Magobagoba Youth Trust
A spokesperson for Natural Selection said: “For decades, we have loved this game-rich area. So, when the opportunity arose to lease the uninhabited private island from our northern local community’s Magobagoba Youth Trust, we jumped at it. Equally attractive to us as a purpose-driven business, though, is that the presence of a camp here can have a very positive impact on both conservation and local communities.”
The Magobagoba Youth Trust uses the proceeds from the lease to support educational projects and employment-creating opportunities for the youth of the villages who live along the northern fringes of the Okavango Delta. This is an important way to not only support the communities whose lives have formed part of this spectacular landscape for hundreds of years, but to also protect the animals whose movements form a critical part in sustaining this rich, yet fragile eco-system.
“After a visit to our other premier camps – Jack’s Camp in the Kalahari and Tuludi in Khwai Private Reserve – adding North Island Okavango to the circuit to complete the thrill of experiencing three of our luxury camps in three different eco-systems, guests will be getting the best Botswana has to offer,” said the spokesperson.
