Luxury

Camp Xakanaxa

Camp Xakanaxa is located on the banks of the Khwai River of the Xakanaxa Lagoon, in the heart of the Moremi Game Reserve. It offers guests an authentic, year round Okavango Delta land and water safari experience. The camp accommodates twenty four guests in twelve spacious all canvas, classic Meru style luxury safari tents, with en suite showers and hand basins. Situated around the fringe of the lagoon, every tent has a private viewing deck with comfortable loungers. The stylish main buildings extend over the Khwai River and are set on raised platforms to maximise the views over the surrounding lagoons and islands. The elegant lounge and dining rooms, built of local timber, reed and thatch, feature a small library, expansive sundeck, plunge pool and sala with day bed.

CARES Philosophy

The CARES philosophy is the foundation on which Desert and Delta Safaris is built. Part of this initiative involves giving back to the local community and environment. A significant portion of revenue is allocated to funding bursaries and educational programs to provide local people the opportunity to train as local safari guides and various maintenance-oriented roles, hereby incorporating local people into the sustainable tourism industry, pumping money into local economies and developing areas. In deconstructing the CARES philosophy, the commitments and credentials held at the heart of Desert and Delta Safaris becomes transparent.

Career and Community

C is for Career and Community; a fundamental value that underpins the ethos at the heart of all operations. Without indigenous, local communities who contribute their support and expertise to the sustainable travel industry, initiatives such as these would prove unsuccessful.

To ensure the success and viability of this industry, Desert and Delta Safaris provides opportunities for long term career development and employment to eager and talented locals widespread through the various surrounding communities, to give back to the people and communities who have given so much.

Advanced Health Care

A is for Advanced Health Care; a necessity that can be in no way overlooked or compromised. Desert and Delta Safaris employs approximately 320 staff members within eight safari lodges.

Due to the remote locations of these lodges; situated vast distances from mainland civilisation, it is important to care for the welfare of all staff employed, which is why each lodge employs a doctor to tend to the health and wellbeing of all staff and visitors alike, doubling as a general GP service available around the clock.

Offering HIV/AIDS testing ensures anti-retroviral treatment is effectively administered, as well psychological support is critical to the wellbeing of all employed, conducted with complete confidentiality to ensure job security.

Responsibility to Our Environment

R is for Responsibility to Our Environment; a fundamental value that emphasises the collective efforts at the heart of Desert and Delta Safaris. Without consideration for the environment, the sustainable tourism industry would serve to undermine the very nature essential to its success.

All eight of Desert and Delta Safari lodges adhere to strict eco-friendly initiatives that aim to minimise the carbon footprint and emissions inherent to the industry.

By incorporating solar powered electricity to power lodge facilities, utilising cutting edge water treatment initiatives, using locally sourced and recyclable materials in the construction of lodges, and incorporating eco-friendly logistical practices, it is possible to set a standard at which all institutions should inspire to and incorporate, as to make a substantial and positive impact on the environment.

Equality in the Workplace

E is for Equality in the Workplace; an unnegotiable necessity. The Botswanan tourism industry serves as one of the country’s leading source of revenue yet has offered little historically by way of employing Botswanan nationals and providing opportunities for senior roles and positions.

Desert and Delta provides annual training programs and schedules with the aim of recruiting and training national residents as guides and facility managers, seeking to offset the imbalance of opportunities that have persisted throughout the years.

As much as 50% of all lodge managers and staff are female, which is seen as an important step in countering gender inequality within the industry, proving more inclusive opportunities for all who seek to make a difference.

Soul and Spirituality

S is for Soul and Spirituality; an often overlooked yet critical matter. Desert and Delta Safaris cares for the physical and psychological wellbeing of all its staff, yet spirituality is an equally important factor. The great distances between home and workplace are an issue inherent to the industry, and one that staff face daily.

Desert and Delta Safaris organises means of transport for workers to be able to visit their home communities and employs a pastor to conduct religious ceremonies in-camp for those with religious obligations. Creating a sense of unity is important, which is why isolation must be addressed wherever possible.

Community Employment Programme

The Community Employment Programme focuses on creating workplace opportunities for youth from disadvantaged social environments. Working closely with localised community institutions, a significant percentage of revenue from Desert and Delta Safari holidays is spent on bursaries to train local people for prospective roles within the Botswanan tourism industry.

This enables cash to flow into local economies and allows communities in developing areas to grow as individuals receive the knowledge and education necessary to thrive in the ever-growing sustainable tourism industry.

Environmental Consciousness

A consciousness for the environment and the impact tourism places on it is an ever-present concern. In order to minimise the carbon footprint and ecological stress placed on the environment, Desert and Delta Safaris has incorporated numerous initiatives that serve to implement positive ecological outcomes. Solar power electricity is utilised in various forms across the eight Desert and Delta Safaris lodges presently operating throughout Botswana.

This is used to power in-camp facilities – and heat water where applicable, negating the need for an over-abundance of conventional diesel-powered generators that are harmful to the surrounding environments and ecosystems.

Careful logistical planning is constantly undertaken to ensure that external resources are supplied to all lodges in the most ecologically sensible manner possible. This includes the mapping of sustainable trade routes that avoid the undisturbed landscapes and ecosystems that surround the lodges, ensuring trucks and other vehicles comply to predetermined, viable routes that do not have a detrimental impact on the surrounding wilderness.

Water and Waste Management

Waste-water flows into a series of above-ground, sealed water-treatment tanks. The end product is potable water that we use to irrigate our lawns and gardens. Alleviating the need to import excessive quantities of fertiliser. This water is tested on a regular basis.

All water used for showering, washing and cooking is sourced directly from the Okavango Delta. The Kalahari sands function as an organic filter to the delta waters, and after an additional filter using in-camp purification facilities, Camp Xakanaxa is able to utilise a near endless supply of sanitary, safe for consumption water.

Bottled drinking water used to be brought in by truck from Maun. However, the implementation of cutting edge, eco friendly technology has revolutionised the way in which sanitary drinking water can be made available.

A state-of-the-art reverse osmosis water system filters the already strained delta waters through a series of additional filters, resulting in water with TDS (total dissolved solids) of less than 5 ppm. For comparison, bottled mineral water is around 10 ppm, and the Okavango Delta river water is around 20 ppm.

Eco Operations

Camp Xakanaxa is host to a variety of initiative that successfully ensure an adherence to eco friendly practises without compromising the classic safari experience. These initiatives are subtly incorporated, so as not to disturb nor impose on the conclusive consumer experience. For instance, Any combustible litter is burnt in a controlled area while all glass, plastic and cans are stored in animal-proof cages and is transported by road to Maun for recycling.