Singita Elela

Singita CEO Jo Bailes has been sitting on this idea for a long time. "One evening, decades ago, gliding along a waterway on a mokoro, the sun was setting on one side of us, and a full moon was rising on the other," he said. "For a moment, everything felt perfectly aligned." He waited for the right concession. NG26 was it.

The partnership here is with the communities of Habu and Nokaneng, which is worth paying attention to. Singita's conservation model has always been built around community benefit, and the Okavango expansion follows the same principle: tourism as a vehicle for land and wildlife protection, managed alongside the people who live there.

What the Camp Looks Like

Eight camps, raised on stilts, spread across the concession. Five one-bedroom camps, two two-bedroom camps, and one four-bedroom camp. Every camp comes with a private vehicle, guide, tracker, and dedicated Camp Manager, which is a level of exclusivity that even by Singita's standards feels generous.

The four-bedroom camp gets its own private chef, wine cellar, two vehicles, and a fitness space. The smaller camps are no less considered: heated pools, firepits, and mesh walls instead of glass, so the Delta's sounds and smells come through unfiltered.

We love the mesh-wall detail. There's a difference between looking at the bush and being in it, and that design choice signals which side Singita has come down on.

What Guests Can Do

Game drives, night drives, and bush walks. Mokoro excursions and boating when the seasonal floods arrive. Helicopter flights over the Delta (worth doing at least once; the scale of the floodplains from the air is something else entirely). Fishing, wine tastings, stargazing, yoga, and wellness treatments on request.

Birders, take note: over 400 species have been recorded across the concession. The Okavango Delta is one of Southern Africa's richest birding territories, and a concession this size, with this little human traffic, should deliver sightings that more established areas can't match.

The central hub breaks from the usual safari formula. There's no separation between front and back of house. Guests can spend an afternoon in the two-storey Conservation Lounge, visit a regional campus of the Singita Community Culinary School, browse a Boutique & Gallery, or use the communal fitness and dining spaces. Children of all ages are welcome.

Rates and Getting There

Singita quotes all rates in USD. The one-bedroom camps start at $3,100 per person per night in low season (January through March 2027), rising to $4,635 in peak season (June through mid-October). The two-bedroom camps run $12,400 to $18,540 per camp per night, and the four-bedroom tops out at $33,950 per camp per night in peak. All rates include meals, drinks, laundry, Wi-Fi, and the 15-minute road transfer from the Singita Airstrip. A $1 tourism levy, 1% conservation levy, and $4.40 carbon offset levy sit on top.

Getting there: Mack Air operates daily scheduled flights from Maun (30 minutes) and Kasane (90 minutes) to the Singita Airstrip. Airlink flies daily from Johannesburg and Cape Town into Maun. Helicopter charters are available through Helicopter Horizons for those who prefer a more dramatic arrival. Soft bags only, 20 kg limit on the scheduled flights.

Best of all, the Maun connection makes Elela easy to pair with other Botswana destinations. A few nights in the Delta followed by a move to Makgadikgadi or the Kalahari is the kind of itinerary we'd build without hesitating.