Sanctuary Stanley's Camp

Sanctuary Stanley's Camp is perfectly set among ebony and sausage trees and located on a 260,000 acre private concession bordering the Moremi Game Reserve. The camp is surrounded by an ever-changing landscape ranging from lush and green when rain flows from the Angolan highlands to dry in the savannah when the Kalahari desert is at its peak.

Stanley's Camp - A Classic Safari 
Sanctuary Retreats Stanley's Camp is a traditional safari camp featuring a large lounge area and dining area coupled with incredible views over the floodplains. The camps main area boasts a bar where guests can enjoy refreshing drinks, as well as a small library area and curio shop. Those looking for a cooling breakaway from the Botswana heat can enjoy a dip in the swimming pool where you can also spot some general game. Everything about Sanctuary Stanley's Camp is built to the highest ecological standards so that no damage occurs to this highly sensitive area.

Luxury Safari Canvas Tents
Stanley's Camp offers ten individually designed safari canvas tents that are furnished with African antiques that exude a classic and understated elegance that harks back to the explorers and colonialists of the 19th century. Each tent has a large wooden deck providing private areas where you can relax while soaking in the surrounding sights and sounds or enjoy cocktails before dinner is served in the spectacular dining mess.

Activities
Game drives within this region are unique, as water crossings are part of the adventure, and watching zebra standing belly-deep in water, grazing is a sight to see. Even giraffe will cross water up to their hocks. Sanctuary Stanley's Camp is set in a private concession which means we can also venture out at night on exciting game drives to see the many nocturnal animals that live here. The evening drive starts after sundowner cocktails, using a spotlight to identify nocturnal creatures including the ones that are easier to catch a glimpse of in the dark, like hyena and leopard.

Guided walks are led by the camps professional guides. The guides will show you the bush on foot allowing guests to experience the Delta from a different perspective, one that is up close and personal with the surrounding environment.

Mokoro excursions in the Okavango Delta is the perfect way to explore this vast region. Guests can experience serene silence at the gentle pace of a poled mokoro excursion along the narrow channels. Sit back and relax as you glide through lily ponds on local dugout canoes while seeing eye to eye with a buffalo as it laps water from the river, watch crocodiles sunbathe on the banks or cruise past a pod of hippos as they lie in a pool. Fish eagles, frogs and fabulous lilies form much of this experience, but more frequently it is the quietness and gentle pace that makes its impression.

Scenic helicopter flights involve flying west towards the permanent delta, exposing areas that are unreachable by vehicle or boat and showcasing the sheer enormity of the Okavango Delta. There is the option of the doors being removed for unrestricted photographic opportunities. Choose between 30, 45 or 60-minute tour in a one turbine Bell Jetranger helicopter with 3 seats.

About the Okavango Delta

The largest inland delta in the world, the Okavango Delta is the most unexpected wonder – water present in a desert. The broad Okavango River sinks into the dry sands of the Kalahari Desert, creating a lush and waterlogged oasis with crystal clear lagoons and channels, reeded islands and fertile floodplains. Dubbed “the river that never finds the sea”, this magical oasis spreads over more than 15 500 km² (almost 6 000 square miles) and yet is so fragile that, if it were denied water for even a decade, it would revert to a semi-desert.

This breath-taking environment constantly adapts and changes with the ebb and flow of the floodwaters that seasonally inundate large portions of the Delta. Although dry for two-thirds of the year, during the winter months the rising floodwaters create a maze of marshes, small wooded islands and shallow lagoons. Water lilies and other aquatic plants flourish in the shallow water, while water birds inhabit the banks of papyrus. As relatively little water can be found elsewhere during this time, the wildlife is drawn to the clear waters of the Delta.

On the edges of the Delta, where land blurs with water, breeding herds of elephant splash gently through shallow channels, the long necks of a family of giraffe materialise slowly out of the Delta skyline and graceful sitatunga antelope hide in the reeds. It is a place where you can wonder at the antics of wild dog in the morning and cast a line for tiger fish in the afternoon, wake in the dappled shade of a forest and enjoy dinner beneath the boughs of a massive baobab at full moon.

Beautiful little reed frogs cling to the water grasses and a variety of incredible bird species make their appearance, from jewelled kingfishers and bee-eaters to ponderous herons and cranes and solemn-looking owls. Red lechwe scamper through the shallows and wild cat, serval and pangolin can be spotted at night, when the moon reflects off the backs of a family of hippo coming out of the water to graze, turning them into slabs of shining silver.

Wildlife
The Okavango Delta is home to a large number of species, including some that are specially adapted to the semi-aquatic lifestyle, like the elegant red lechwe and shy sitatunga antelope. Lion prides, cheetah, leopard and African wild dog may be encountered, while hippo resides in deeper channels and lagoons. Honey badgers are observed during daylight hours. Roan and sable antelope favour taller grass in open woodlands and families of dwarf and banded mongoose occupy large termite mounds.

Graceful giraffe, with their impossibly long necks, and herds of zebra can be encountered on the floodplains. Lion, as well as other predators, can also be found in the area, particularly in the drier areas. Although predominantly nocturnal and difficult to spot, leopard occurs in the dense forest are the water’s edge. The sparkling channels teem with a variety of fish, while hundreds of bird species, frogs and insects inhabit the reeded banks.