I Was the First to Stay at This Safari Lodge in Botswana's Okavango Delta—Which Just Reopened With an Overwater Firepit, Private Floating Dinners, and Only 12 Suites

Travel + Leisure

20-05-2025

The freshly renovated accommodations are spacious and feature a separate sitting area, a desk, and an en-suite bathroom with both indoor and outdoor showers.
Xugana's location, situated right on the edge of the Okavango Delta, immerses guests in nature and provides unparalleled waterfront views.
The overwater firepit at the end of a wooden dock extending out into the Delta is a prime spot for sipping a sundowner or reading a book post-lunch.
For a truly memorable dining experience, guests can arrange a private floating dinner on the water, subject to hippo activity.
The lodge offers several included activities, like rides in a mokoro —a traditional dugout canoe propelled by a skilled poler—through the papyrus-lined waterways of the Delta.
I'm standing under a steady stream of hot water when I spot a bird that prompts my jaw to drop in a cartoonishly dramatic fashion. It's an African fish eagle, its dark wings spread majestically before landing on a nearby tree. I'm in the teak outdoor shower of my safari tent at Xugana Island Lodge, surrounded by a flurry of spectacular birds, ebony and African mangosteen trees, with the reverberating sound of honking hippos, mere feet from the banks of Botswana's Okavango Delta.
Visitors often flock to this landlocked country north of South Africa for Chobe National Park's famous game drives among elephants, giraffes, and lions. But equally captivating is the Okavango Delta, a vast inland wetland formed where the Okavango River fans out across the Kalahari Desert. This UNESCO World Heritage site offers its own unparalleled wildlife viewing—from big game to rare antelopes and over 400 bird species—across papyrus-lined waterways and islands. Because much of the Delta is only accessible by small planes or boats, tourism remains low-impact.
Situated in northern Botswana on the Delta's Xugana Lagoon, Xugana Island Lodge (pronounced 'coo-gana') was built in 1974 as only the second tourist lodge in the region. Part of the Desert & Delta Safaris portfolio, it recently underwent a complete rebuild, reopening in April with 12 luxury accommodations, a swimming pool overlooking the lagoon, a thatched-roof bar, and an overwater firepit perfect for sundowners and stargazing. The welcome lounge.
Verity Fitzgerald/Xugana Island Lodge
Xugana's central hub is a stylish open-air reception and dining area where my fellow guests and I gathered for meals or to sprawl out with a book on cushioned loungers overlooking the lagoon. A small library offered a selection of books about the Delta's ecosystem, while a curio shop offered field guides, locally-made jewelry, handwoven baskets, and other souvenirs. I regret leaving behind a carved wooden hippo, but couldn't resist a silver butter dish crowned with a tiny elephant and colorful beaded bracelets for my daughters.
Beyond the idyllic setting and refreshed amenities, Xugana's genuine hospitality is a draw in itself. During chilly morning boat excursions, hot water bottles appeared on our seats. Afternoon outings included cold drinks and freshly baked herb scones or biltong, the spiced Southern African beef jerky. Each dinner began with a joyful performance of traditional songs by the staff, and every return to the property was met with cold towels and warm smiles.
I spent two nights at Xugana Island Lodge just after its reopening—here's what it was like.
To call the accommodations at Xugana Island Lodge 'tents' feels like false advertising. Technically, each 915-square-foot structure has canvas walls and window screens that open and close with a zipper. But when I entered through the heavy wooden door, stepped onto the hardwood floor covered in woven area rugs, and turned on the lights, the cavernous space felt like so much more. The contemporary design draws inspiration from the blue-hued lagoon, and there's even framed photography and other artwork hanging on the canvas walls.
Standard accommodations include a canopied king-sized bed (that can be transformed into two twins by request), an enclosed viewing deck with upholstered seating for an up-close view of the Delta, a desk, and a wardrobe. The separate bathroom area is equipped with a double vanity and both indoor and outdoor teak wood showers, stocked with eco-friendly bath products, sunscreen, and pest repellent. The main area with al fresco dining table and lounge area.
Verity Fitzgerald/Xugana Island Lodge
Meals are typically served buffet style at the main lodge, with menus that rotate daily. One morning, I filled my plate with an egg wrap, pork sausage, a warm blueberry muffin, and freshly cut mango, paired with a made-to-order cappuccino. Lunch included a wide selection of dishes, like cumin-scented beef kofta, roasted chicken, chickpea salad, and rice. At 3 p.m. daily, afternoon tea is served with sweet and savory bites (I loved the lemon cake with marmalade filling), and a selection of teas and coffee.
Dinner is also a set menu, with a similar selection of meat and fish, side dishes, salads, and a cheese platter, plus red and white wine pairings featuring South African wineries. Guests can book a private dinner in a floating 'restaurant' in the lagoon any night, except when the hippos are too active nearby. Private dining is available on the floating dock.
A thatched-roof waterfront bar is open all day. While it's stocked with virtually any spirit, I exclusively opted for a nightly gin and tonic made with The Sentinel Okavango Gin. The Botswana distillery infuses the blend with seeds from the indigenous Mopane tree, which tastes like juniper berries. Another South African spirit, Amarula, is a cream liqueur made from the fruit of the marula tree, and I poured a little into my evening coffee for a local take on a Baileys Irish coffee.
Each room also has a coffee and tea station stocked with all the accoutrements for a hot cup—even a glass jar of shortbread cookies. Enjoy a cocktail in the Okavango Delta with Helicopter Flip.
Four main activities are included with a stay at Xugana Island Lodge: boating, mokoro rides, guided nature walks, and catch-and-release fishing. Guests can also opt to take a helicopter tour for an additional fee. With more than 400 species in the Delta, world-class birdwatching is also an option anytime.
Boating takes place on a motorized, flat-bottom vessel that zips around the waterways in search of crocodiles, hippos, birds, and the occasional elephants that come to drink at the water's edge. On one excursion, we spotted massive crocodiles soaking up the sun on the banks, and a bloat of hippos (the actual, if not hurtful, term for a group of the semi-aquatic mammals) on an early evening swim.
On another morning, we ventured out on the boat to nearby Palm Island in the Delta for a walking safari. To my extremely untrained eyes it was a vast green field, part of the tropical savanna biome, but our highly trained guides, Gee and Metal, stopped every few feet to point out another hidden treasure: a family of jaunty warthogs, a marula tree (the elephants' favorite), a sausage tree (hanging fruit that look like the inside of an Italian deli), a piece of broken elephant tusk, and a hulking white buffalo skull. We also watched a running herd of red lechwe, a troop of baboons playing in a tree, and the island's lone zebra, standing on a termite mound to scan the landscape.
The mokoro is a traditional dugout canoe, human-powered with a pole that's reminiscent of a Venetian gondolier. It's especially peaceful in the early evening, when the water lilies are still in full bloom.
On the last night of my stay, we had sundowners around the firepit on the lodge's new overwater deck that juts out into the lagoon. We watched a crocodile slink by in the water and were serenaded by grunting hippos before the sun set and the sky lit with stars. As someone who lives in a city, it was a rare treat to see the Milky Way and constellations galore, especially the Southern Cross, which is primarily only visible in the Southern Hemisphere.
Xugana Island Lodge welcomes families with children aged six and older. One family accommodation is designed with two connected double-occupancy tents. There's also a living area with comfortable upholstered seating that converts to a bed for an additional two guests, which can be zipped off from the main bedroom for privacy. All of Xugana's included activities are kid-friendly.
Desert & Delta Safaris also offers an Ultimate Family Safari (UFS), and families who book it get a private vehicle and guide at each camp with tailored activities and thoughtful touches. These include kid-friendly welcome packs, more flexible mealtimes, and guides who are especially good at engaging with the youngest safari-goers for interactive activities on things like animal tracking, bush skills, and cookie making.
The camp is accessible with wooden ramps that are maneuverable via wheelchair, and one tent is accessible, with a wheelchair-friendly ramp. All tents have roll-in showers.
Desert & Delta Safaris is an Eco-Certified Resort, Botswana Tourism's highest status for sustainable tourism initiatives. The Xugana camp operates entirely on solar power, and bottled water was replaced with water purified via a reverse osmosis (RO) system. The lodge's rebuild was undertaken with reducing environmental impact top of mind. Main guest areas were built with environmentally-friendly materials like wood from sustainably-managed forests in Southern Africa, accommodations were designed with high-pitched roofs to cool naturally and avoid the use of air conditioning, while the layouts prioritized protecting existing vegetation.
I arrived shortly after the property reopened to guests, and surrounded by thick vegetation and an abundance of wildlife, it was difficult to tell that construction had recently taken place on the grounds. Guests enjoying the Fire Deck at nighttime.
Verity Fitzgerald/Xugana Island Lodge
Situated in the north of Botswana on the Okavango, the lodge is on the Xugana Lagoon in the heart of the Delta. Guests arrive via a Safari Air Cessna, often transferring from another one of Desert & Delta's safari camps located around the country. It's also accessible from Botswana's Kasane and Maun regional airports.
After landing on a rural airstrip, we walked a few yards to a waiting motorboat for a roughly seven-minute cruise to the lodge. The boat ride is a highlight, weaving through papyrus-lined waterways before entering the lagoon, with the picturesque waterfront lodge in the distance.
Desert & Delta Safaris is not part of any loyalty program.
Nightly rates at Xugana Island Lodge start from $1,290 per person per night, on a double occupancy basis, in peak season from May to October. All meals are included.
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