The camp and team

Anchored in the wild.

Anchored in the wild.

Anchored in the wild.

A home in the middle of the Delta, standing and waiting when you arrive, so there is nothing to do but start looking.

A private camp placed where the wildlife is, with a team who run it around you. Game comes through camp, the drive starts at the ignition, and the week takes the shape you want it to.

Camp goes where the wildlife is.

Camp goes where the wildlife is.

Camp goes where the wildlife is.

Both camps are chosen on the season’s conditions. Water levels decide what is reachable, and we place them for the variety of life around them and for the photography.

Deep lagoon at one, floodplain or forest at the other, so the view from camp changes midweek.

You are in it from the moment you wake.

“On a mobile safari you can be out the whole day. You leave at six thirty, you reach camp at five. You spend your whole day in the bush with no pressure.”

“On a mobile safari you can be out the whole day. You leave at six thirty, you reach camp at five. You spend your whole day in the bush with no pressure.”

Rocky

Midweek we move, and it makes for a full day in the field. Working slowly through ground you have not seen, with nowhere to be. You arrive at the second camp in the evening to find it standing and dinner ready.

The camp is yours.

The camp is yours.

The camp is set up for your party and for nobody else. It is also unfenced, which is the part people remember: the bush walks through it. Tracks by the tent at breakfast, hyena on the edge of the firelight, and someone to walk you back to your tent after dark.

The camp is set up for your party and for nobody else. It is also unfenced, which is the part people remember: the bush walks through it. Tracks by the tent at breakfast, hyena on the edge of the firelight, and someone to walk you back to your tent after dark.

“When they take photographs around camp, there is no line of a wire or fence in between the lens of the camera. It is just the background, the landscape, and the animal in front.”

“When they take photographs around camp, there is no line of a wire or fence in between the lens of the camera. It is just the background, the landscape, and the animal in front.”

Joe

The inside of a guest tent, bed made up under a mosquito net, with the door open to the water.

Your room under canvas.

Your room under canvas.

Your room under canvas.

A walk in canvas tent, complete with bed and fresh linen, a private ensuite bathroom, solar lighting and charging. The Delta sits on the other side of the canvas.

The bed is not a luxury flourish. The roads out here are rough, and after a full day in the vehicle you need to sleep properly.

Gathering around the table.

Gathering around the table.

Gathering around the table.

Our camp chef and hospitality team bring proper dining into the heart of the bush. Hot cooked breakfasts after the morning drive, relaxed lunches in the shade, and three course dinners under the stars. Enjoy local Botswana beer, fine wine, and stories around the table, closing the final night under canvas with champagne.

The day ends where every good day in the bush ends, at the fire.

The dining table laid under canvas at dusk, with a fire burning and water behind.

You look after the photographs. We look after everything else.

You look after the photographs. We look after everything else.

You look after the photographs. We look after everything else.

A camp is only ever as good as the people who run it. A licensed guide, a photographic host, a chef, a waiter and the camp team, for four guests at most.


Your tent is made, the water is hot, lunch is packed if we are staying out, and dinner is already on the fire. Everything is handled, so your attention goes where you want it.

“We know the area like the back of our hands. That does not mean other people do not know it. But the newcomers were born into the town. We were born there with those animals, born right into the Delta. That is where our school is. That is where our university is.”

Joe

Every departure is led by either Joe or Rocky, father and son, both licensed professional guides who grew up on this water. Which of them is with you depends on the departure.

Joe and Rocky are Bayei, of the Wayeyi, the river people of the Okavango. Their families have read this water for generations, and the mokoro you go out in is their boat.

James Nicholls, photographic host, holding a camera in the field.
James Nicholls, photographic host, holding a camera in the field.
James Nicholls, photographic host, holding a camera in the field.

James Nicholls

Host and photographic lead

I host every departure personally and I am with you the whole week. My job is your photography: helping you read the light, anticipate what an animal is about to do, and come home with pictures you are pleased with. Behind that is an FGASA field guide qualification with trails and rifle, tracking under Master Tracker Colin Patrick, and fifteen years behind a camera.

Joseph Sanati Bayei, known as Joe, licensed Botswana guide.

Joseph Sanati Bayei, known as Joe

Licensed professional guide

I was born in the Delta and I have guided here since 1992. My father was a hunter. We left that behind. I taught myself from books, sat the government exam, and took my licence. What I know about this place did not come from a college: we were born here, with these animals. That is where our school is. That is where our university is.

Gaelejwe Bayei, known as Rocky, licensed Botswana guide.

Gaelejwe Bayei, known as Rocky

Licensed professional guide

I grew up in Maun, at our cattle post on the Boro, which is Delta country. I came into this industry from the bottom. Camp hand first, then waiter, then I trained as a chef, three months in college and three months in the field. After that I spent seven years travelling with different guides before I qualified myself. It was more like being at school. I have done every job in this camp, which means I know when something is not right before anyone tells me.

The hands behind the camp.

The hands behind the camp.

The hands behind the camp.

From our camp chef cooking over open coals to the team making sure your coffee is hot before dawn, these are the people who make canvas living feel effortless. They build our camps, move them midweek, and keep the fire lit at night. You will know them by name from the first evening, and their hospitality is the real reason this trip stays with you.

Dorcas, the camp chef, in her whites.

Dorcas

Chef

Morning, the camp waiter, setting up under the mess tent.

Morning

Waiter

Mr Baitse, camp hand, beside the water.

Mr Baitse

Camp hand

The camp team together beside the water in the Okavango Delta.

The team. Four guests, and all of us.

The camp

Where you will be living.

Where you will be living.

Camp details

Inside the mobile camp

A closer look at the practical standard of the camp: canvas rooms, mosquito nets, shaded entrances, washing arrangements and the evening rhythm beside the water.

Your tent, set in the shade, tent exterior at Okavango Skimmer Safaris mobile camp
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Tent exterior

Your tent, set in the shade

Your tent under the trees, with two chairs at the entrance.

Our philosophy

Rooted in Botswana.

Rooted in Botswana.

Rooted in Botswana.

This safari is run with Botswana people, not simply in Botswana. Joe, Rocky and the camp team are contracted and paid directly by us, and they are central to the whole thing: Okavango Skimmer does not exist without them.


We travel light, leave no trace, and the work, and the value of it, stays with the people whose ground this is.

Enquire

Come and meet them.

Come and meet them.

Come and meet them.

A quiet camp, run properly, in the middle of the Delta. Tell us a little about yourself and James replies personally.

Make an enquiry

Make an enquiry

WhatsApp James

WhatsApp James