Two days earlier I had been standing in red Kalahari sand watching wild dogs disappear into golden grass. Now I was on a raised wooden deck above water, watching two hippos fight for territory directly below me. The noise of it. The sheer size of them. The water erupting around them. I stopped breathing for a second. That’s the Okavango Delta. I’ve arrived at Gomoti River Lodge and I’m in the middle of Botswana.
Gomoti River Lodge sits on the edge of the Gomoti River in the heart of the Okavango Delta, Botswana — and it is one of the most genuinely immersive lodges I stayed at on my eleven days through Botswana and Zimbabwe. I stayed three nights at the lodge. Part of my full route through the AfriTourism Collection lodges in the green season of February 2026.
Here’s everything you need to know.
Let’s go – on the move
At a Glance: Gomoti River Lodge | Okavango Delta Lodges Botswana
| Location | Gomoti River, Okavango Delta, Botswana |
| Nights recommended | 3 (minimum) |
| Best for | Okavango Delta wildlife, Moremi day trips, water & land game drives |
| Collection | AfriTourism Collection |
| Green season | November – April (lush, lower rates, baby animals) |
| Book | gomoti-river-lodge.com |
| Nearest airport | Maun (road transfer) |
What Is Gomoti River Lodge?
Gomoti River Lodge is a citizen-owned, locally-run eco-lodge on the Gomoti River — one of the defining water channels of the Okavango Delta in Botswana. It is part of the AfriTourism Collection, a network of Botswana-owned lodges that keeps tourism exactly where it should be: in local hands.
Not a foreign brand. Not a five-star chain that could be anywhere. A lodge built by people who know this landscape and built it for exactly the kind of travel I believe in.
The setting is extraordinary. Giant Leadwood trees tower over the camp — these are trees that have been here for hundreds of years and make you feel very small in the best possible way. Your tented chalet is raised on a wooden deck directly above the water. Your view from that deck? Okavango Delta floodplains stretching to the horizon in every direction.
The hippos graze next to the camp at night. You hear them before you see them. Gomoti is one of the five camps on my hosted Botswana trip upcoming November (2026!). Curious? Check out everything quickly – there are already a few spots taken.
The Accommodation
Tented chalets on raised decks. Comfortable, well-equipped, honest. You are in the Delta — not a hotel lobby pretending to be — and the accommodation is richer for that honesty. The bed is good. The shower is good. The sounds that come through the canvas at night are extraordinary.
I put on the golden dress, walked to the veranda, and stood there for a long time. No sound except water, birds, and the distant grunt of hippos. Then two of them surfaced thirty meters away and started fighting.
I did not go back inside for a while.
The Food at Gomoti river lodge
Wonderful. Fresh, local, beautifully presented. Every dinner was a full meal — multiple courses, real cooking, not the kind of food you expect to find in the middle of the Okavango Delta but exactly what you find here.
Breakfast was on the simpler side. But when you’re leaving at 6AM for a game drive and Sunday is already standing by the vehicle in the half-dark, it doesn’t matter. You’re not there for the breakfast.
The Guide: Why Sunday Changes Everything
Our guide was Sunday. And he was exceptional in a way that doesn’t take a few drives to fully appreciate.
Game drives in the green season Okavango Delta require a completely different skill set than dry season. The grass is high. Vegetation is dense. Animals are harder to spot and easier to miss entirely. Sunday didn’t miss them.
He read tracks. He listened to bird calls as a warning system — certain species call differently when a predator is nearby, and he could tell you what was coming, from which direction, before you’d seen a single thing. Often, he’d stop the vehicle and go quiet. A minute later, something would move in the grass and he’d already known it was there.
We drove from 6AM to 5PM some days. Eleven hours in open bush. And it never got slow.
The green season Okavango Delta wildlife is extraordinary in ways dry season visitors miss entirely. Birthing season means baby animals everywhere — impala lambs, elephant calves, oryx on shaky legs. Predators are active and well-fed. The light for photography is softer, warmer, longer. And there are no other vehicles.
Moremi Game Reserve: The Boat Safari
On day six of my Botswana trip, we went into the Moremi Game Reserve by boat.
The Moremi Game Reserve is one of the most important protected areas in Botswana — it covers the northeastern part of the Okavango Delta and holds some of the highest concentrations of wildlife in Southern Africa. Water buffalo, lions, leopards, wild dogs, hippos in every channel. Extraordinary birdlife.
We launched from Xakanaxa boat station, which sits right in the heart of Moremi. The boat moved slowly through the channels, past papyrus reeds taller than the vehicle, past hippos half-submerged and watching, past elephants drinking on the banks. It is a completely different way of seeing the Okavango Delta — from the water, everything slows down and opens up at the same time.
If you’re staying at Gomoti River Lodge, ask to include a Moremi day in your itinerary. It is worth it in a way that’s hard to describe until you’re in it.
♥ Read more about what I actually spent on my safari
Losika Elephant Camp + Gomoti Villa
On day five, the lodge took us to see two other properties in the area: Losika Elephant Camp and Gomoti Villa. And now I have a problem, because I want to bring everyone I know here.
Losika Elephant Camp is a smaller, more private camp where elephants simply walk through. Not arranged. Not staged. You wake up — elephant at the waterhole. You eat breakfast — elephant in the treeline. It’s wildlife in the most literal sense. Completely unscheduled.
Gomoti Villa is a private villa with its own pool and dedicated game drive vehicle. For a group trip? This is it. Private schedule, private space, no compromise on anyone else’s morning.
Practical Information: Gomoti River Lodge
- Where: Gomoti River, Okavango Delta, Botswana (road transfer from Maun)
- Recommended nights: 2-3 minimum
- Best for: Okavango Delta Botswana safari with water and land game drives, Moremi Game Reserve day trips, (green season) wildlife photography
- Green season: November–April — quieter, lower rates, baby animals, extraordinary light
- Nearby: Losika Elephant Camp, Gomoti Villa (ask to include in your stay)
My Full Botswana Safari
Gomoti River Lodge was days three, four, and five of eleven days through Botswana and Zimbabwe. Before this I was at Grassland Safari Lodge in the Central Kalahari — wild dogs on day one and the San people on day two. After Gomoti, I moved to Saguni Safari Lodge, then Chobe Mobile Camp, then across the border into Zimbabwe on foot for Victoria Falls.
I’ve planned my group trip to Botswana & Zimbabwe. This is one of the stops. Would you come? Drop a 🌍 in the comments and I’ll send you all information.
Come with me · November 2026
Want to travel with me? And experience this trip yourself?
I’m taking two small groups of six back to Botswana & Zimbabwe this November — the exact route in this article, fully hosted, everything included, every photo taken by me.
See my Botswana group trip →The full route, what each lodge is really like, and everything you need to know to plan a Botswana safari — I’ve covered it all in my complete guide:
- Botswana Safari Guide: 11 Days, 5 Lodges, Honest Green Season Review
- Grassland Safari Lodge Review
- Saguni Safari Lodge Review
- Chobe Mobile Camp Review
- Okavanago Delta Botswana Guide
- Victoria Falls Zimbabwe Guide
- Grab my Botswana and Zimbabwe Itinerary
Hi, I’m Lisa, the Dutch blogger behind Dutchbloggeronthemove — a luxury slow travel platform built on the belief that the best journeys happen at a pace that lets you actually remember them.
She has lived in Mallorca for over three years, visited Lake Garda 35+ times since childhood, and spent years exploring South Africa’s wine regions until she knew them the way locals do. She travels with her partner and her Labrador Buddy, and she still returns to her favourite destinations four or more times a year — because one visit is never enough to write about a place honestly.
Everything published here starts from personal experience. That’s the only kind worth reading. ♥
