Location: Botswana
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Mombo Camp has arguably the best big game viewing in Africa. Located in the Mombo Concession on Chief's Island in the heart of the Okavango Delta, Botswana, the sheer numbers and variety of wildlife all year round defy description. Mombo Camp is the Africa only seen in documentaries: from elephant to buffalo to tiny steenbok, vast herds of herbivores are trailed by numerous predators!
Mombo Camp is located in the Mombo Concession on the northern tip of Chief's Island within the Moremi Game Reserve in the Okavango Delta, Botswana. This area boasts enormous concentrations of plains game and predators - providing arguably the best big game viewing in all of Africa.
Built under large, shady trees and overlooking the floodplains which teem with wildlife all year round, Mombo Camp comprises nine spacious tents raised two metres from the ground. Bathrooms are en suite, with both indoor and outdoor showers. Magnificent vistas are the order of the day, with all the rooms, the sala, long veranda and lounge area taking advantage of the very best that the Okavango Delta has to offer. Mombo Camp's main living and dining areas are under thatch, but a boma adds traditional flavour to a delicious dinner under the stars. There is also a plunge pool in which to relax.
The best big game viewing experience starts on the veranda at Mombo Camp, with wonderful concentrations of game occurring right in front of the camp. Guests often find animals wandering past, right under their rooms!
Activities at Mombo Camp include morning and afternoon game drives. Open 4x4s provide an excellent vantage for viewing the high concentrations of plains game and all the predators - including the big cats. Lion sightings are frequent. Guests at Mombo Camp can also expect to see leopard, wild dog, spotted hyaena, large herds of buffalo, elephant, white rhino, southern giraffe, blue wildebeest and Burchell's zebra.
Black and white rhino have been reintroduced to the region with outstanding success (albeit most are further away from Mombo Camp), thanks to the Botswana Rhino Reintroduction Programme.
Conservation activities at Mombo Camp are centred on the protection of both the black and white rhino. For over 10 years Mombo Camp has been working in close collaboration with the Botswana Government and Wilderness Wildlife Trust. Previously, both species were on the brink of extinction, a situation that these concerted efforts have begun to reverse.
Starting in 2000 with white rhino, a series of translocations have been carried out in partnership with the Department of Wildlife and National Parks with assistance from South Africa National Parks (SANParks) and the Botswana Defence Force who provided logistical support and security. Since this initiative began a total of 27 white and 4 black rhino have been reintroduced into the wild via a set of holding bomas at Mombo in the Moremi Game Reserve. The animals have settled down well and white rhino numbers have been enough to form a viable breeding population, so that there have been a number of successful births. The four black rhino which have been released are below the viable breeding level, but have also produced one calf so far. Mombo Camp has continued to focus its efforts on protection and monitoring of the animals, and to that end has hired full-time staff who work closely with the anti-poaching unit from the Botswana National Park (DWNP). It has also funded research to further its conservation efforts which have not gone without reward.
A key challenge at Mombo Camp remains the large elephant populations and their potential impact on vegetation and other wildlife species. As a result it has partnered with Elephants Without Borders to investigate home range size and space utilisation of elephants in Moremi on the northern tip of Chief’s Island where Mombo is situated.
Mombo has the utmost respect for local culture and traditions. It continually endeavours to promote the maintenance of cultural values that are important to its staff and to the communities with whom it engages.
Mombo actively promotes local indigenous culture and raises its profile through practices such as holding traditional evenings where local language, customs, food, dress, song and dance are shared with guests. This celebration of local culture traverses Mombo’s decor and guest activities where game drives are used as a platform for intercultural exchange as guides integrate traditional and local beliefs in the explanations they give guests. In addition, Mombo displays local arts and crafts both as decoration in camp as well as for sale in the camp curio shop.
Mombo is a successful sustainable tourist destination. Through offering a host of attractive activities, the main ones which include game drives, nature walks and boat safaris. One of the key focuses of the business is providing employment for local communities providing continued support for its conservation efforts. It actively invests its profits into the other 3Cs as it has adopted the 4Cs (conservation, community, culture and commerce) approach across its entire business and reporting framework.
