Elephant Express
Supporting human-wildlife coexistence by providing safe transportation for school children and healthcare providers through an elephant corridor.
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Our new tented camp, brought to you by the Uncharted Africa team in the private NG12 concession in northern Okavango Delta, is where your wildlife adventure awaits. Located in an area that offers superb game viewing year-round, here the wildlife action never stops. Every bit a Ralph Bousfield camp, it offers a blend of remarkable guided wilderness experiences and a classic safari style.
The camp is in a superb setting where you’ll instantly be immersed into the Okavango Delta’s true wonder.  With some of the best safari guides in the business, and a variety of land and water-based activities,  you can look forward to a rewarding wildlife experience in this game-rich private concession. In-between action filled game viewing activities, relax around the camp pool or take a siesta in the comfort of your air-conditioned tent. This is an ideal camp for those seeking a deeper understanding of the natural world in a very relaxed environment.
Simply by making the choice to visit Mbamba you are already leaving a positive impact on conservation in the area. Human-wildlife conflict is one of the biggest issues that we face in conservation, and it’s particularly prevalent in areas where villages and predators are within close proximity. Our award-winning Elephant Express project and our support of communal herding programmes on the border of the concession help to minimize human-wildlife conflict in this crucial wildlife corridor.
Mbamba is situated in the northwest sector of the Okavango Delta adjoining the renowned Moremi Game Reserve. The unusually large size of the concession, coupled with limited human impact and a vast abundance of wildlife, ensures a stay at Mamba offers reliable game watching.
Mbamba in the Okavango Delta is open year-round, with peak season being between April and October. During these dry winter months, water from the Angolan highlands arrives and water levels in the Delta are high, offering the best conditions for mokoro and boat activities and exceptional game viewing opportunities as wildlife is drawn to the water from the surrounding dry areas. The mild daytime temperatures and clear skies make it the ideal time to visit the Delta for a memorable safari experience.
In the ‘Green’ season starting in October, the landscape becomes lush and green with afternoon thunderstorms, making it a prime time for bird-watching as migrants fill the area with their songs. Access to perennial channels for mokoros and boat safaris is still available most of the year.
Designed in the iconic Ralph Bousfield safari style, Mbamba offers 12 stylish canvas tents (4 double, 6 twin and 2 family), carefully positioned under the shade of an impressive stand of large leadwood trees. The cool air-conditioned tents are on slightly raised wooden decks and revel in the much-loved Bousfield vintage safari aesthetic of plush fabrics, mahogany sideboards, Persian rugs and romantic four-poster beds, all infused with a yesteryear charm. Each tent offers spacious en-suite bathrooms and a private veranda that sits elegantly under the bows of the trees to offer respite from the heat, and stunning views of the Okavango Delta.
The main mess area at Mbamba is a delight with its draped fabric and collections of ancient artefacts. Relax in the two lounges where you can spend your time perusing the cabinets or grabbing a drink from the well-stocked drinks cabinet, read a book from the small library or relaxing around the camp swimming pool. Meals are served family-style at the long table. Dine under the stars or under canvas, followed by stargazing around the firepit before saying goodnight.
Mbamba occupies a 220 000-acre concession in the northern Okavango Delta, neighbouring Vumbura, Duba Plains, and adjoining the renowned Moremi Game Reserve. Its vast size, limited human impact, and abundant wildlife make it a truly wild and untouched Delta experience. The camp itself is pitched under a stand of large leadwood trees and the surrounding landscape of tawny grasslands interwoven with shimmering channels, ancient woodland and ilala palm-islands, is beautifully pieced together to create a wildlife utopia.
With the high carrying capacity of this concession guests can look forward to impressive wildlife sightings throughout the year. Lush grasslands sustain large herds of herbivores – including African buffalo – while the Okavango’s iconic elephants are here in abundance, with guests often enjoying thrilling sightings. And where the prey go, the predators follow, this corner of the Okavango Delta is said to have some of the highest concentrations of lions in the Delta, where prides are known to hunt big prey. It is also particularly renowned for observing endangered African wild dogs with a top denning area close to camp.
The birdlife in this region is equally remarkable, with more than 350 species recorded in the region, including the endangered wattled crane, Hottentot teal, carmine bee-eater, Pel’s fishing-owl and the African fish eagle adding to the enchanting Delta soundtrack.
Get access to a range of experiences that can be enjoyed during your stay
When you visit, you will be directly supporting the following Natural Selection conservation initatives:
Mbamba means ‘hello’ in Botswana’s Bukakhwe San Bushman dialect and is a very appropriate name for this welcoming new tented camp. Part of the Uncharted Africa portfolio, Mbamba joins Duke’s Camp and Duke’s East in the NG12 concession in the northwestern region of Botswana where the Okavango River begins to spread out, creating the world’s largest inland delta.
Before the opening of Mbamba, Uncharted Africa owner Ralph Bousfield spent over ten years camping both privately and on mobile safaris in the game-rich area that the tented camp now calls home. The camp’s design was thus developed in intimate connection to the land and the rhythms of the area’s wildlife. The canvas tents and the winding paths between them are laid out under the shade of existing leadwood trees and the aesthetic radiates the vintage charm and communal atmosphere Uncharted Africa camps are known for. While there is plenty of modern comforts to be found at Mbamba the camp’s primary focus remains squarely on offering guests a truly exceptional guided wilderness adventure.