Exclusive luxury safaris in Africa

A lighthearted ramble from a luxury Safari in Okavango Delta

If you ever find yourself Googling exclusive luxurious safari holidays in the Okavango Delta, most likely life is going fairly well or at least well enough to warrant considering locations where elephants freely roam past your breakfast table. Among those places that seem almost fictitious, like a screensaver somehow coming to life, is Botswana's Okavango Delta. A large inland delta where rivers forget they are supposed to reach the sea and instead spread out, sparkle, and draw almost every animal with legs, wings, or remarkable teeth.

Arrival immediately catches your eye, the silence. Not uncomfortable silence, but rather the kind that helps you understand how loud daily life is. No emails, no traffic, no neighbour buzzing a lawnmower at 7 a.m. Only birds fighting with each other, and the far-off growl of something big and unimpressed with your visit. This quiet is complemented with excellent coffee on a luxury safari, which seems like a little miracle in the middle of the jungle.

Game watching here is in a different league. You might see elephants wandering through the water as though they own the place, which, to be fair, they most likely do. Hippos pop up suddenly, which makes you a little scared before they go back to their main job of floating. While leopards do that thing where they seem for ten seconds, make you doubt your vision, and then evaporate once more, lions rest around looking like they are modelling for a brochure.

Exploring by mokoro, a traditional dugout canoe, is one of the pleasures of the Okavango Delta. You glide along tiny canals surrounded by reeds, acting like you're calm and spiritual while secretly hoping nothing big comes up next to you. A somewhat frightening but calming, lovely, and underappreciated vacation combo, it is.

The luxury lodges here will cause you to reconsider your life decisions. Big tents featuring real beds, outdoor showers, and views suspiciously reminiscent of desktop wallpapers. You go game driving at dawn, come back for brunch, sleep like a champion, then head out once more in the afternoon. Though someone has to do it, the timetable is demanding.

Being in the Delta is, in itself, quietly humiliating as well. Seeing animals live their lives helps you see your own problems in context. When a herd of buffalo thunders by, totally uninterested in your to-do list, that email you forgot to send now seems less significant.

You will be rested, somewhat smug, and maybe looking for instructions on permanently moving there by the time you depart. A high-end luxury safari vacation in the Okavango Delta is about more than only checking species off a list. It's about slowing down, paying attention, and understanding that, even if you prefer to view it with a cold drink in hand, the earth can still be beautifully wild.