Oddballs' Camp is situated on the edge of Chief's Island, deep in the heart of the Okavango Delta, bordering the Moremi Game Reserve. On arrival, you are met at the airstrip by your personal guide and welcomed to the island. He remains your guide for the duration of your stay.
Oddballs’ offers no motorized activities. Each guide has his own mokoro (pl. mekoro), (the genuine wooden article, not the plastic replica), in which he’ll take guests gliding through the Okavango to nearby islands (water dependent), where he’ll walk guests through magnificent scenery to view game, birds, insects, medicinal plants, tracks, signs, droppings, and other fascinating natural phenomena.
Guests usually go out in the early morning, returning for a late breakfast, and venture out again in the afternoon after the midday heat has dissipated.
The bar and lounge areas at Oddballs’ Camp provide a great meeting place and somewhere to swap stories around the fire. There is a raised viewing deck that overlooks the sweep of the Delta – the perfect vantage point from which to watch the sun set over the palms and view whatever wildlife may be visiting.
For guests staying a minimum of four nights, Oddballs’ Camp also offers privately guided overnight camping trails by mokoro, for a minimum of two nights – although they recommend three or more to get the best out of this unique safari. The trails are amongst the most sought-after wilderness experiences in the world today, offering an opportunity to experience life in serenity and on its own terms in a way not easily achieved in the modern world.
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Oddballs' is situated on the edge of Chief's Island, deep in the heart of the Okavango, and bordering the Moremi Game Reserve.
Oddballs’ offers an extraordinary value-for-money experience in the Okavango Delta. Activities are conducted by your own professional guide (a maximum of two guests per guide), a man of the swamp, born and bred in the area. No motorized activities are offered, with the emphasis on a quiet, slow, and intensely personal experience of the African bush.
The camp is accessed by light aircraft only and is a 20 minute flight from Maun or a 50 minute flight from Kasane. It is 15-30 minutes from most other camps in the area.
The camp accommodates 28 guests in 14 3m x 3m canvas rooms (including two family units), thoughtfully created and set on elevated wooden decks shaded by the trees and canvas shelters. Beautiful outdoor showers and ablutions en-suite offer hot and cold running water for a traditional al-fresco bucket shower. A small deck offers a place to relax and view the stunning scenery.
Oddballs’ loves them! They have two family units and no age restrictions. They believe that guests know their children and as they will not be doing any excursions in the company of other guests they have only themselves to consider while on activities. Oddballs' is happy to accommodate alternative family dining times and to prepare simple food for children. They have games in the sitting area and reference books that will help to entertain and illuminate the children's experience.
Game of all sorts are abundant: lion, leopard, buffalo, elephant, hippopotamus, crocodile, giraffe, antelope including the rare lechwe, tsessesbe and sitatunga, otters, honey-badgers, the shy pangolin, the nearly extinct rhino and a variety of the smaller wild cats such as civets, servals and genets are amongst the many mammal species that visit the Delta. There are also reptiles – many species of snakes (most of them harmless), as well as several species of tortoise, terrapin, lizard, skinks, chameleon and gecko – not forgetting of course the Nile crocodile. Then of course there are the birds, well over 450 species, that bring the forests, rivers and flood-plains of the Okavango to life. Many rare and endangered species call the Okavango home, and birders come from all around the world in search of them.
The power at Oddballs' Camp is generated by solar panels, and where possible the water is also heated this way. Oddballs' Camp also ensure that the large fuel tankers do not cross floodplains and streams or cut through forests to deliver diesel for their generators and pride themselves on being a camp without any engines or motors.
The local village, Sedibana, is 30-45 minutes from the camp. For over three decades Oddballs' Camp there has been a strong bond between the villagers and the camp. During this time they have actively supported local development in the area. They assist in providing nursing care, veterinary assistance and transport to and from Maun for all of the villagers.
Many of Oddballs' Camp’s staff members come from Sedibana Village and have been with the company for at least 10 years, some more than two decades and there are also multiple generations of families who work at the camp. Oddballs' Camp generates revenue for the government, and helps to police the resources against the depredations of those who don’t care for it. Through their guiding and camp experience, they help create world-wide awareness and exposure of the resources within the Okavango Delta and beyond.
As the landscape of the Okavango is becoming more arid and the elephant population is increasingly putting pressure on old growth tree species in the Okavango, the landscape is changing noticeably. Oddballs' Camp has established a Tree Welfare program and many of the trees have been wrapped with diamond mesh wire to protect them from the elephants. In addition, throughout the year trees in danger are being coated with a homemade paste that repels elephants and stops them from scarring and eventually killing the trees.
Delta Camp (on the opposite side of the island) was one of the first photographic camps established in the Okavango Delta, and was purchased by Peter Sandenbergh in 1984. Peter was a pioneer of the safari business in Botswana and brought a passion for wildness and a care for the land into everything that he did. Around the time Peter purchased Delta Camp, a gentleman by the name of Lance Cherry arrived in Maun. In 1987 Peter asked him to build a campsite on the other side of the island from Delta Camp. As they got to know one another Peter began to call Lance by the nickname Oddball and shortly thereafter decided to call the new campsite, Oddball's. Long After Oddball had continued on his journey, Peter changed the name to Oddballs' to include all who journey to the legendary destination. A principled and focused conservationist, Peter created a unique and quirky camp with a family of staff members many of whom are with the camp to this day. Peter passed away in 2016 and the camp is now run by his wife and children who continue to focus on offering guests authentic experiences while minimising the impact of people and animals on the fragile and dynamic ecosystem of the Okavango Delta.
19°31' 47.05" S and 23° 05' 26.59" E
Please be advised that the use of mekoro depends on a number of factors beyond the camp's control – water levels, vegetation growth, changes in the Okavango’s channel-structure, and hippo activity, amongst others. These can and do change quickly and unpredictably. Consequently Delta Camp may not be able to offer mokoro excursions due to practical constraints or safety considerations. If this is the case they recommend guests participate in other activities that are equally enriching and complete a full-bodied safari experience.
At Delta Camp children 16 years and under sharing with two full paying adults stay absolutely FREE.
Children love the Okavango! The vibrancy, the freedom, the obvious rawness of the natural environment throbbing with life is very often closer to the child-state than it is to adulthood. The view that ‘they’re still too young to appreciate it’ could not be further from the truth. Delta Camp believes it especially important, in this day and age, that kids have access to the natural world, and to be in an environment in which they are forced to direct their attention to the wider world, and away from hand-held electronic devices and computer screens – to stretch their eyes to the distance, to experience smells other than those that come from urban living, to experience the heightened sense of awareness that comes with the knowledge of life and death around them, to let their imaginations take wing, to consider possibilities unconsidered.
In support of providing life-affirming opportunities for your family, Delta Camp has decided to put their money where their mouth is with this innovative and unprecedented offer.
This offer is valid for either one or two children, depending on the rooms available at the time of booking.
Valid through December 21st, 2023
For example, 3 nights at Delta Camp inclusive of return air transfer from Maun:
2 adults and 2 children under 11yrs
Green Season: Normal Rack: US$ 6,404 I Special Rack US$ 4,886 I SAVING US$ 1, 518
Shoulder Season: Normal Rack: US$ 8,474 I Special Rack US$ 6,226 I SAVING US$ 2,208
High Season: Normal Rack: US$ 9,506 I Special Rack US$ 6,956 I SAVING US$ 2,550
2 adults and 2 teenagers 12-16yrs
Green Season: Normal Rack: US$ 7,916 I Special Rack US$ 4,886 I SAVING US$ 3,030
Shoulder Season: Normal Rack: US$ 10,676 I Special Rack US$ 6,266 I SAVING US$ 4,410
High Season: Normal Rack: US$ 12,056 I Special Rack US$ 6,956 I SAVING US$ 5,100
