Xigera Safari Lodge

In Botswana’s Okavango Delta, you will find a safari lodge like no other, Xigera Safari Lodge.

The story of Xigera (pronounced “Kee-jera”) is one of renewal, reverence, and return.

Born from legacy and shaped by vision, this is not just a safari lodge, it is a handcrafted love letter to the Okavango Delta: to its wildlife, its people, and its future.

Here, nothing is scripted.

Everything is felt.

From the moment you arrive, the Delta reveals itself; quietly, powerfully, unmistakably.

Created to reimagine the safari experience, every detail breathes with nature: the service, the design, the freedom to follow desire and instinct over itinerary.

This is not just a safari. It’s Your Safari, Your Story.

Take a journey into the heart of Xigera.

This is not just a place; it’s a feeling.

Where sculptural spaces meet untamed wilderness, and every detail is crafted with care and purpose.

Set deep in the Moremi Game Reserve, where the Okavango Delta breathes with life, Xigera offers a rare kind of safari, one rooted in soul, luxury, story, and stillness.

Accommodation at Xigera Safari Lodge

Xigera is designed to be felt.

Every space you enter, every surface you touch, has been imagined and handcrafted by Africa’s most visionary creatives.

Its 12 suites are positioned for privacy, stillness, and a front-row seat to the wild. Nothing here is decorative; everything is meaningful.

From sculptural chairs to copper fireplaces, every element reflects their love for this land.

With Africa’s largest private collection of contemporary art in hospitality, Xigera is a living gallery, where the wild inspires the work, and the work honours the wild.

No two stays are ever the same, because every moment is yours.

Spread across two islands to retain the aura of wilderness, and ensure privacy and peacefulness for guests, each suite at Xigera sits on raised stilts, allowing both wildlife and the life-giving waters of the Okavango to pass beneath.

Revel in a perfect medley of materials, textures and colours.

Within each suite, design exists cohesively in a jewel-like layering of materials and texture including timber, bronze and hand-carved wood.

Individually, each suite is remarkable.

As a whole, Xigera is a living gallery of African art and design, an entirely unique celebration of the continent’s creativity, honouring indigenous traditions while seeking out bold new interpretations.

For a truly immersive discovery of the Okavango Delta, discover the remarkable Baobab Treehouse, situated one kilometre away from the lodge, with a guide stationed close by. Here, amid the seclusion of this sculptural treehouse you will experience Africa at its most raw, and most remarkable.

Amid a stand of indigenous Croton trees, the striking steel structure – built in the evocative shape of a baobab tree – ascends nearly 10 metres above the floodplain, offering panoramic views from each of its three levels.

The structure’s design was inspired by an iconic painting of a solitary baobab tree by Jacobus Hendrik Pierneef, one of South Africa’s master landscape artists.

Inside the tree’s ‘trunk’, a winding staircase climbs nearly four metres above ground, delivering guests to the spacious bathroom on the first level.

Ascend to the top of the ‘baobab’ and the drama truly unfolds, with an open-air deck for lounging, reading and watching wildlife pass undisturbed below.

A serene, hidden – and entirely safe – eyrie from which to witness the magic of the Okavango Delta at dusk or ­– if you choose to spend the night in the open-air king-size bed – to marvel at the jet-black sky punctured by the stars of the southern sky.

The Baobab Treehouse Experience is tailor-made for each and every guest.

Arrive after lunch for sundowners and a picnic-style dinner on the deck or depart Xigera Safari Lodge after dinner for an unforgettable night’s sleep in the tree house of your dreams.

Dining at Xigera Safari Lodge

Your journey of discovery doesn’t end when the mokoro slips ashore or the game drive returns to camp.

Here every meal tells a story of land, season, and culture.

Food that honours its origins: cooked with heart, served with meaning.

Led by Executive Chef Ziyaad Brown, every dish at Xigera is a tribute to Botswana’s land, seasons, and stories.

Our menus shift, guided by what is fresh, local, and thoughtfully sourced from wild-harvested ingredients to produce grown by nearby farmers.

This is farm-to-table reimagined, Xigera-style: real food, real impact, always exceptional.

Discover the warmth and charm of The Boma, where al fresco tables spill out onto the spacious deck overlooking the Okavango Delta.

After a sumptuous dinner, gather with other guests to trade safari stories at the campfire.

Alongside Xigera’s fresh, seasonal menus, guests can savour a series of signature dishes inspired by the enduring culinary traditions that have shaped our hospitality for decades, elevated with local produce and the vibrant tastes of Botswana.

To complement the cuisine, their climate-controlled wine cellar showcases a selection of fine wine and champagnes from across the globe, including handcrafted wines and special vintages from their sister-vineyard in South Africa’s Hemel-en-Aarde valley, Bouchard Finlayson.

Health & Wellness at Xigera Safari Lodge

The healing power of nature is ephemeral, yet undeniable.

From the simple serenity of escaping into this untamed wilderness, to the deeply humbling nature of immersing yourself in a vast and ancient landscape, your hours at Xigera will leave you feeling revived, refreshed and rejuvenated.

Meticulously designed to frame breathtaking views of the seasonal flood plains and lush riverine forests, in its soothing colour palette and organic textures, the spa exists in perfect harmony with the surrounding landscape.

Fittingly, architect Anton de Kock found inspiration for his design in the eternal cycles of nature, reassuringly repetitive and unyieldingly regular:

“They are the perfect continuum of opposites: of life and death, of light and dark.

The Sun, the Moon, the entire Universe as well as the ‘circle of life’, which is synonymous with the wilderness.”

In addition to the Spa, Xigera Safari Lodge offers an extensive wellness programme, featuring international guest experts and pioneers in the fields of mindfulness, wellness and holistic healing, channelling the natural healing powers of the wilderness.

The lodge showcases an air-conditioned modern fitness centre with state-of-the-art equipment from Technogym, alongside a swimming pool with a stunning relaxation deck gazing over the river.

Safari & Wildlife Experiences at Xigera Safari Lodge

Discover the magic of this African reserve that the Xigera team are honoured to call home.

It is their greatest joy and privilege to be the custodians of this incredible ever-changing eco-system that protects the Okavango Delta’s diverse wildlife.
Watch their lodge leopard Sophie in the long grasses with her little cub Tshameko (meaning “the playful one” in the local Setswana language), or their lioness Sisilia with her cubs as they edge closer to adulthood.

As the seasons change, so too does the wildlife, with the floods bringing even more giraffes, elephants, wild dogs and buffalo.

Guests can expect incredible wildlife sightings from the moment they fly into camp, with beautiful leopards and lions a regular sight in and around the Lodge.

Elephants are arguably the stars of the show.

Northern Botswana is home to the world’s largest population of Loxodonta Africana, and at last count more than 130 000 wild elephant still roamed free here.

On mokoro and motorboat excursions look out for the area’s smaller inhabitants, like the tiny, mottled frogs that cling to delicate papyrus reeds.

Stealthy crocodiles and large pods of hippo shy away from attention in the deeper channels and lagoons.

The lush grasslands and verdant islands also support large herds of antelope, including kudu, wildebeest and the semi-aquatic red lechwe.

On your safari excursions from Xigera, look forward to sightings of lions, cheetahs and leopards.

Packs of endangered African wild dog are found here too, as are the ever-resourceful spotted hyena.

The Okavango Delta is nothing short of a wilderness wonderland, delivering both unforgettable landscapes and once-in-a-lifetime wildlife encounters.

Getting To Xigera Safari Lodge

The nearest major international airports are Johannesburg and Cape Town.

Direct scheduled services land at Botswana’s Maun airport.

From Maun, a scenic 25-minute flight by light aircraft will deliver you to the Xigera airstrip, a 10-minute drive from the lodge.