We arrived at Saguni Safari Lodge after a full day inside Moremi Game Reserve Botswana — a boat excursion from Xakanaxa through channels thick with hippos, followed by a road transfer through the Khwai private reserve Botswana with the Saguni team. By the time we reached the lodge, we’d already been in the Okavango Delta for hours. But arriving at Saguni still felt like arriving somewhere new.
The lodge sits in Moremi East, nestled into an island of mature riparian trees — the old kind, the kind that make noise in the wind at night and remind you where you are when you wake up. I stayed three nights. Of all the lodges on my trip, this one felt the most polished — a pool, afternoon tea, courses at dinner, laundry returned folded to your tent. It surprised me.
This is the lodge I keep recommending when people ask where to stay. Here’s why.
→ Planning your own Botswana trip? Start with my complete 11-day Botswana safari route — it covers every lodge, every region, and exactly how I planned the whole thing. ♥
Moremi Game Reserve Botswana — What You’re Getting Into
The Moremi Game Reserve in Botswana covers the eastern section of the Okavango Delta — around 4,900 square kilometres of protected wilderness. UNESCO World Heritage Site. One of the most biodiverse wildlife areas on the African continent. Inside Moremi you find a mix of permanent waterways, floodplains, dry woodland and mopane forest, which is what gives you such an unusual variety of species in a relatively compact area.
What most people don’t realise: Moremi Game Reserve itself doesn’t permit night drives. The national park closes at sunset. But the Khwai private reserve — where Saguni Safari Lodge sits — is community-owned land bordering Moremi, and here night drives are permitted. That means you get both: Moremi by day, Khwai by night.
→ This was lodge three of five on my route. See all of them in my Botswana safari guide.
Arriving at Saguni — And Meeting Isla
When we arrived at Saguni, Isla from the AfriTourism Collection was there to welcome us. And I want to take a moment to talk about her, because she’s one of those people who makes you understand why a trip feels different from the inside out.
Isla grew up in Botswana. She knows the country the way you know it when it’s not a job but a life — the seasons, the animals, the rhythms of the land, the people who run the lodges. She joined us for our stay, helped us navigate, answered every question with the kind of depth that only comes from someone who has lived this for decades. Beautiful, strong, smart. The kind of person you want beside you when you’re seeing a country for the first time.
She’s also one of the reasons I’m bringing a small group back to Botswana later this year (november 2026). Because having someone like Isla help me plan changes everything about how you experience a place. More on that very soon.
Saguni Safari Lodge — River Tent, Big Patio, Total Privacy
Our tent faced the river. A proper luxury tent — raised on a wooden platform, open-mesh sides that bring the bush in without compromising comfort, ensuite bathroom, and a big private patio with a completely secluded view. Nobody looking in. Just you, the lagoon, and whatever’s moving in it.
I sat on that patio every morning after the first game drive and every evening before dinner. Hippos surfacing. In the evenings the light on the water is — I’ve been trying to find a better word for weeks — pink. Not sunset pink. Something specific to this latitude and this time of year that your camera just doesn’t capture. I really did try.
Among all the lodges in the Okavango Delta I stayed at on this trip, Saguni felt the most luxurious. Not because it’s the most expensive or the most famous. Because of the space, the privacy, and the fact that we were completely alone. The entire lodge. Just us. You can stay here on my small-group safari.
The Laundry — Yes, I’m Writing About Laundry
When you’re eleven days into a safari across Botswana and Zimbabwe, your clothes are not in good shape. Everything smells like sunscreen and red dust and the particular sweetness of insect repellent that has fused permanently with your favourite shirt.
Saguni Safari Lodge offers complimentary washing and folding. They take your clothes, they wash them, they fold them, and they return them to your tent smelling like actual clean laundry.
This sounds small. It is not small. When you open your bag and everything is fresh and folded and ready for the next three lodges.
The Food — Tea Time @ Saguni Safari Lodge
I need to talk about the food at Saguni Safari Lodge, because it was really good. The meals were served in courses — proper, thoughtful courses with fresh ingredients and real flavour. But what I remember most is the afternoon tea. Homemade pies. A full cheese spread. And homemade iced tea that was, honestly, the best I have ever had. I’m not exaggerating. I’ve had iced tea in restaurants across three continents and nothing has come close to whatever they made there.
Between the morning and afternoon game drives, when the sun is high and the bush is quiet, this is what you do. You sit by the pool — yes, there’s a pool — with a plate of homemade pie and a glass of that iced tea, and you watch the lagoon, and you wonder how a lodge this far from everything manages to feel this generous.
The chilled white wine by the campfire after the evening drives was just as good. We sat there every night — my partner and me, completely alone — and talked about what we’d seen, what our guide had explained, what surprised us. Fire, darkness, the Okavango Delta humming around us. Simple. Perfect.
Mr. Longer — The Guide Who Made Every Drive Worth It
Our guide was Mr. Longer — “The only predictability that we have on safari,” he said, watching something move in the treeline, “is that it is unpredictable.”
He said it every drive. And he was right every single time.
Mr. Longer guided us through everything — the water-flooded areas where the vehicle pushed through channels that looked impassable, the mopane forests inside Moremi Game Reserve, the open concession land in Khwai.
Three nights and not one game drive went the way I expected it to. Impala, tsessebe, giraffe, elephant herds, buffalo, hyenas, red lechwe at the water’s edge. We did a night drive too — the Khwai private reserve Botswana allows them, Moremi itself doesn’t — and Mr. Longer taught us to read the dark before we even left: predator eyes catch the spotlight red, prey eyes catch white. We didn’t see predators that night. But the anticipation — every pair of white eyes, every rustle — kept every nerve switched on for the entire drive.
The Mbudi Lagoon — Your Permanent View | Khwai private reserve Botswana
The Mbudi Lagoon is part of the Sable Alley river system in the Khwai area, and it sits directly in front of the lodge. This is not a view you walk to. This is the view from your tent, from the pool deck, from the bar, from the fire pit.
Hippos at all hours. Elephants in the afternoon. Crocodiles in the channels. Birds — kingfishers, fish eagles, herons — doing what birds do in the Okavango, which is everything, constantly, and loudly.
Sit on the deck before dinner and give it an hour. Just the lagoon and whatever’s moving in it. This is slow travel at its most literal and its most rewarding.
Who Is This For?
Saguni Safari Lodge is for you if:
You want a lodge in Moremi Game Reserve Botswana without pretension. This is a lodge that has a pool, several courses every night, offers afternoon tea with homemade pies, washes your clothes, and gives you a river-facing tent with total privacy — and it does all of this with warmth. Among the lodges in the Okavango Delta, it hits a rare balance between comfort and authenticity.
You care about where your money goes. Saguni is Botswana citizen-owned, part of the AfriTourism Collection. The staff are local. The guides are local. The revenue stays in the community. If responsible tourism means something to you beyond a checkbox, this lodge delivers it.
You want Moremi Game Reserve with night drives. The Khwai private reserve Botswana location gives you access to both — Moremi by day, Khwai by night. Most lodges inside Moremi itself can’t offer that.
You’re doing a multi-lodge Botswana itinerary. Three nights at Saguni fits perfectly between the Okavango Delta proper (I came from Gomoti River Lodge) and the Chobe/Victoria Falls corridor (I continued to Chobe Mobile Camp) and then to Victoria Falls.
→ how much to budget for a Botswana safari ♥
Practical Information
| Lodge | Saguni Safari Lodge |
| Location | Moremi East, Khwai, Okavango Delta, Botswana |
| Access | Road transfer from Maun (~3–4 hours) into the Khwai private reserve Botswana, or via Xakanaxa as part of a multi-lodge route |
| Tents | I stayed at the Luxury River Tents (river tents recommended — the lagoon view is worth it) |
| Activities | Game drives (Moremi + Khwai), night drives, mokoro excursions, walking safaris, |
| Extras | Pool, complimentary laundry, afternoon tea service |
| Best for | Couples, small groups, families with children 8+ |
| Recommended stay | 3 nights minimum |
| Price range | From $450–$750 per person per night sharing (check current rates with lodge) |
→ Not sure when to go? Read my best time to visit Botswana guide here ♥
My Verdict | On the move
Three nights at Saguni Safari Lodge. And what I remember most is not any single animal sighting, though there were many. It’s the feeling of the place.
Mr. Longer’s voice on every game drive, steady and unhurried. The river tent with its big patio and nobody looking in. That homemade iced tea that I still think about. Clean laundry folded and waiting on the bed. Isla’s energy from the moment we arrived. The campfire every evening with a glass of wine and nowhere else to be.
This is the lodge I tell people about when they actually ask me where to go. And it’s one of the reasons I’m taking a small group back to Botswana in November 2026 — because places like Saguni, and people like Isla and Mr. Longer, deserve to be experienced by more people who travel the way I do.
Come with me · November 2026
Want to experience this yourself — with me?
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 →ALSO IN THIS SERIES
→ My complete 11-day Botswana safari route
→ Grassland Safari Lodge, Central Kalahari Game Reserve
→ Gomoti River Lodge, Okavango Delta
→ Okavango Delta Botswana Guide
→ Chobe Mobile Camp, Chobe National Park
→ Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
→ Safari Packing List: What I Wore (and Forgot)
→ My Botswana and Zimbabwe route, day by day ♥
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. ♥
