# Okavango Delta: map, what to do and when to go

Maun, on the southern edge of Botswana's inland delta, is the base for mokoro trips, safaris in Moremi and flights over the Okavango's channels.

Canonical: https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/okavango/
Language: en. Extended author commentary and itinerary notes may remain in Portuguese. Dates below belong to individual sources; this is not live availability.

## Direct answer
- **Okavango Delta: how do you get to Maun?** Maun Airport (MUB) is in the middle of town, two blocks from the main shopping center.
- **Okavango Delta: how do you get around Maun?** The center, from Riley's Hotel to the airport, can be done on foot.
- **Okavango Delta: how many days should you stay?** I'd stay four days in Maun, and three at the very least.

## Maun and the delta from above
In the morning, a scenic flight from Maun Airport. Book ahead with one of the operators on Mathiba I Road, confirm whether the price is per plane or per person, and add the departure fee per person.
- Chief's Island
- Thamalakane River
- Nhabe Museum

## Moremi Game Reserve
Leave at dawn, in the 4x4 and with the operator's driver, for Moremi's south gate (South Gate), to start the safari while the light is still low.
- Moremi Game Reserve

## Okavango Delta
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/okavango/#g-lugar-okavango-delta
Seronga · One to two hours
From the air, the delta shows the pattern of channels, lagoons and islands all at once, and it changes with the water level from one week to the next. Scenic flights in light planes or helicopters leave from Maun airport, and the operators are opposite the terminal, on Mathiba I Road. For planes, the price is usually fixed per aircraft, so sharing the flight with other passengers lowers each person's cost; a departure fee per person is added. The flight is better on a day with light wind.
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## Moremi Game Reserve
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/okavango/#g-lugar-moremi-game-reserve
Half a day or more
The reserve the Batawana proclaimed in 1963 occupies the east of the delta and puts side by side dry land with mopane woodland and acacias, floodplains and lagoons. It has lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo, giraffe, hippopotamus, red lechwe and a population of African wild dogs studied since 1989, and more than 400 bird species have been recorded. Game viewing is best from July to October, when the pools dry up and wildlife gathers at permanent water. The roads change with the flood: in high water there are flooded stretches, in summer there is deep sand.
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## Xakanaxa
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/okavango/#g-lugar-xakanaxa
Half a day or more
A sector of Moremi on the shores of permanent lagoons, where dry land meets the channels, and one of the reserve's four camping areas. The lagoons are the place to watch waterbirds, and the sector is farther from Maun than the south gate, so it usually belongs in itineraries with an overnight stay.
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## Third Bridge
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/okavango/#g-lugar-third-bridge
Half a day or more
A rustic campsite in Moremi near the Sekiri River, surrounded by papyrus, which the Botswana tourism authority names as a favorite of self-drive campers. It is inside the reserve and requires a 4x4 and an advance booking with the campsite's concessionaire.
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## Chief's Island
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/okavango/#g-lugar-chief-s-island
One to two hours
The largest island in the delta, more than 70 km long and about 15 km wide, was the chief's exclusive hunting ground and is now the protected core where the resident wildlife gathers when the water rises. It lies in the heart of the delta, within Moremi: visitors who do not sleep in a concession camp see it from above, on scenic flights.
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## Khwai River
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/okavango/#g-lugar-khwai-river
Half a day or more
The river that forms part of Moremi's northern boundary, near the north gate and the village of Khwai, home to the Bugakhwe. On the north bank is the Khwai community area, with its own camps and no park entry fee; on the south, the North Gate campsite, already inside the reserve.
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## Boro River
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/okavango/#g-lugar-boro-river
Botsuana · Half a day or more
One of the channels that drain the delta to the south, emptying into the Thamalakane. On its floodplains and in the neighboring areas are the stations from which mokoros hired in Maun set out: the poler pushes the canoe standing up, almost without a sound, and the trip usually includes a guided walk on an island. Departure depends on the water level that year.
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## Thamalakane River
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/okavango/#g-lugar-thamalakane-river
Up to half an hour
The river that runs through Maun follows a geological fault and receives the Boro at a right angle. On its banks are the hotels and campsites of Matlapaneng, and in the wider stretches red lechwe can still graze alongside donkeys, goats and cattle. It is the place for the end of the day if you are not in the delta.
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## Nhabe Museum
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/okavango/#g-lugar-nhabe-museum
Maun · Up to half an hour
A museum in Maun opened in April 1996, in a building from 1939 that served as a British military watch post in the Second World War. It gathers objects, oral history and local art of the peoples of Ngamiland, and a large monumental basket marks the entrance. Worth a short stop on a day in Maun; confirm the opening hours by phone before you go.
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## Lake Ngami
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/okavango/#g-lugar-lake-ngami
Half a day or more
The lake that Livingstone described in 1849 is today a remnant that fills only when the delta's water arrives through the Thaoge River. In a flood year it attracts birds and animals; in a dry year, the trip to the southwest shore of the delta is not worth it.
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**Okavango Delta: how do you get to Maun?**
Maun Airport (MUB) is in the middle of town, two blocks from the main shopping center. It receives Air Botswana flights from Gaborone and Kasane and Airlink flights from Johannesburg and Cape Town; FlyNamibia connects Maun with Windhoek. Confirm the routes at the time of your trip, because they change. By land, from Gaborone there are daily buses that take 9 to 10 hours (P278 in 2023, paid on board); from Francistown, about 6 hours. To continue from Maun to Kasane, take the bus heading to Francistown, get off at Nata and catch another one north there, leaving as early as possible. By car, the A3 links Nata to Maun.

**Okavango Delta: how do you get around Maun?**
The center, from Riley's Hotel to the airport, can be done on foot. For Matlapaneng and the camps to the north, there are taxis and blue-plated kombis (combis); in 2023 a taxi to the northern campsites cost around P30, and kombi route 1 goes to the airport and the campsites. Taxis have no dispatch center: save a driver's phone number. After dark fewer taxis run, because driving at night is dangerous due to animals on the road.

**Okavango Delta: how many days should you stay?**
I'd stay four days in Maun, and three at the very least. The first belongs to the scenic flight, which shows where the water is that week and places Chief's Island and the channels that the rest of the trip covers in pieces; the second, to the mokoro, which gets close to the water without a motor; the third, to Moremi, where dry land and flooded plains lie side by side and the animals gather in the dry season. I'd give the fourth to Nxai Pan and Baines' Baobabs, which show the region's other face, that of the Kalahari salt pans. Those who can afford a camp inside the delta should swap the second and third days for two nights there, arriving by light plane, because the mokoro and the safari are already in the daily rate and the daily 4x4 drive disappears. Chobe and Tsodilo call for an overnight stay and are left for a longer trip.

**Okavango Delta: can you see the delta from Maun, or do you need to sleep at a camp?**
There are three ways into the delta: with an operator from Maun, who takes you by 4x4 to the mokoro stations and to Moremi; by light plane to a camp inside the concessions, with activities included; or driving yourself to Moremi and Khwai. The last requires a 4x4 with recovery equipment and a snorkel for water crossings, plus a campsite booked in advance. At the delta camps, the daily rate usually includes meals, activities and a guide. It is the most direct way to see the heart of the delta, but it costs much more than sleeping in Maun, and rates vary by camp and season.

**Okavango Delta: when is the best time to go?**
June to October. The water from Angola's rains arrives slowly and peaks between June and August, in the dry winter, when days are mild and nights can drop close to zero, with occasional frost. From July to October the pools dry up and animals gather at permanent water, which is when game viewing in Moremi is at its best. It is also when the daily rate at delta camps is highest and the Moremi campsites fill up first. September and October heat up again, and October is the toughest month, with highs above 40 °C. Local rain falls from December to March, in late-afternoon storms, with days of up to 40 °C and high humidity.

**Okavango Delta: how do you pay the Moremi entry fee?**
Bring pula in cash: the entry fee, charged per person per day and added to the vehicle fee, is paid to the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP) at the gate, separate from the campsite booking, and the card machine does not always work there. Withdraw cash in Maun before you leave. The campsites are run by concessionaires and must be booked in advance; the park fee is charged separately, even if the voucher says everything is paid. Moremi and Chobe are in the country's most expensive fee bracket, and the amount is under review; confirm it when booking. At concession camps, the daily rate is per person and usually includes meals, drinks, activities and park fees.

**Okavango Delta: how does the scenic flight work?**
Scenic flights in light planes or helicopters leave from Maun airport, and the operators are opposite the terminal, on Mathiba I Road. For planes, the price is usually fixed per aircraft, so sharing the flight with other passengers lowers each person's cost; a departure fee per person is added. Scenic flights usually charge in US dollars. The flight is better on a day with light wind.

**Okavango Delta: is it safe?**
Botswana has a low crime rate, and Maun calls for the usual care of any town. The real risk is the animals and the road. In the delta, hippos, crocodiles, elephants and lions roam free; attacks on tourists are rare, and the rule is to follow the guide's instructions at all times and not to enter the water of the channels and lagoons, where crocodiles and hippos live. On the road, the danger is driving at night, with animals on the road, and crossing Moremi unprepared: there are flooded stretches and deep sand, and away from the main roads help is slow to arrive. The Okavango, Ngamiland and Chobe are malaria transmission areas, more intense in the rainy season; the CDC recommends preventive medication, which starts days before the trip, as well as repellent and a mosquito net. Botswana has one of the highest HIV prevalence rates in the world: use a condom and do not share needles. Outside the towns, drink bottled water.

**Okavango Delta: what is the day trip from Maun?**
Nxai Pan National Park lies east of Maun, north of the road between Maun and Nata. The park protects the bed of a fossil lake of about 40 km² and Baines' Baobabs, a group of ancient trees painted in the 19th century by Thomas Baines. In the rainy season, from December to April, it has giraffe, zebra, wildebeest and predators, but the roads can become difficult; from May to September access is easier. You go with an operator from Maun, by 4x4, on a long day; anyone driving alone needs a 4x4. Chobe, Tsodilo, the Panhandle and Makgadikgadi call for an overnight stay.


## In the Nilo app
- Plan these 3 days on the map: https://nilopelomundo.com/en/app/guide/okavango/?utm_source=llm&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=door-itinerary
- Mark your hotel on the map: https://nilopelomundo.com/en/app/map/okavango/?utm_source=llm&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=door-stay

## Full editorial guide (Portuguese)
https://nilopelomundo.com/llm/okavango.md