Mombo Camp & Little Mombo
Moremi Game Reserve - Okavango Delta, Botswana
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MOMBO CAMP & LITTLE MOMBO -
MOREMI GAME RESERVE, OKAVANGO DELTA, BOTSWANA
Mombo Camp - renowned for having what is arguably the best big game viewing in Botswana - lies on the northern tip of Chief's Island, the largest landmass in the Okavango Delta. The sheer numbers and variety of large mammals in this area, all year round, defy description: from elephant and buffalo to tiny steenbok, large numbers of herbivores are followed by their predators in equal measure: lion, leopard and cheetah.
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Mombo Camp is built under large shady trees and overlooks an open floodplain more often than not alive with wildlife. This area boasts enormous concentrations of plains game and large predators - lions in particular - providing what is arguably the best big game viewing in Botswana.
Little Mombo is an extension of Mombo, sharing the same island as the larger camp in the Moremi Game Reserve, and matching its high standards. It offers the same abundant big game viewing - some of the best in Botswana - and overlooks a floodplain that is a beautiful setting for a variety of wildlife.
Accommodation
Mombo Camp  For images of Mombo, click Mombo
Images For Layout map of Mombo Camp, click Mombo
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Acommodation comprises nine spacious tents raised up to two metres off the ground, with breathtaking views over the plains; the sala, long veranda and lounge area all take advantage of such vistas. Bathrooms are en-suite, with indoor and outdoor showers. The main living and dining area is under thatch, there is a boma for delicious dinners under the stars and a plunge pool to relax in on a hot day.
Little
Mombo For
images of Little Mombo, click Little
Mombo Images For Layout map of Little Mombo Camp, click Little Mombo
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Little Mombo, built under a shady canopy, has three luxurious and spacious rooms under canvas, each with en-suite facilities and an outdoor shower for those who wish to shower closer to Nature. A sala, large veranda and lounge area all provide ample place to relax and enjoy the view. Little Mombo has its own dining room, kitchen, lounge and pool overlooking the open plain in front of camp. Larger groups can also book out some of the rooms in the main camp.
Activities
Activities at Mombo Camp mainly comprise morning and afternoon game drives in open 4x4 vehicles. These drives explore the savannah and floodplains and are exciting with prolific sightings of lion, leopard, cheetah, wild dog, elephant, spotted hyaena, southern giraffe, blue wildebeest, Burchell's zebra and large buffalo herds. Black and white rhino have been reintroduced with outstanding success to the area (albeit most are further away from camp), thanks to the Botswana Rhino Reintroduction Programme.
Legadima - a Mombo leopard
Legadima is a female leopard that resides at Mombo Camp in Botswana's Okavango Delta. She is surely one of the most photographed and watched leopards ever, due mainly to her starring role in the National Geographic documentary "Eye of the Leopard", filmed on location by Dereck and Beverly Joubert. This short video was filmed during our December 2011 photo safari at Mombo and is narrated by resident guide Tshepo Kgalaelo-Austin Phala.
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(clicking HD toggles off High-Def quality and will speed buffering but reduce video quality)
The Mombo Habitat and Wildlife
Unlike the water-inundated areas of the Okavango Delta, the habitats here vary from open grasslands, secluded island sanctuaries and papyrus-fringed channels to low sandy islands and dry land on which animals and plants flourish. Ancient floodplains, long since dried up, form permanent savannah divided by swathes of dense mopane and acacia woodland. Raised, tree-covered islands of a variety of shapes and sizes are common, ranging from a single termite mound to large landmasses. Trees such as real fan palms, sycomore figs, jackal-berry and mangosteen characterise these island communities separated by open grassland and fragrant wild sage.
This habitat is more familiar to those who dream of the Africa of nature documentaries: open grassland plains dotted with acacia trees and thickets. It is on these plains that the larger mammals move in their numbers.
Mombo Camp and Little Mombo are situated on Mombo Island, an extension of the north-western end of Chief's Island which effectively divides the Okavango Delta into eastern and western sections. The whole of Chief's Island and Mombo fall within the Moremi Game Reserve, and, in particular a zone set aside for "low intensity" safari use. Thus Mombo Camp and Little Mombo are remarkably exclusive and remote.
The sheer numbers and diversity of mammals found in this area all year round simply defy description, from herds of buffalo to the diminutive steenbok, a pretty dwarf antelope species. Elephant, impala, spotted hyaena, lion, leopard and cheetah are all found here and even small predators like serval and side-striped jackal are occasionally seen.
This abundance and variety owes much to the area's position on the ecotone between the ancient Kalahari sands and vegetation of Chief's Island, and the more modern, water-borne sediments and grasses of the Okavango Delta fan to the west. In addition, the annual inundation and drying of the floodplains to the west of Camp Mombo allow the large numbers of wildlife to utilise both habitats to the maximum. When the inundation of water arrives in the area between March and May each year, large mammals are able to move into the Chief's Island area, which contains rich resources of grass and Acacia dominated woodland. The wetlands are fringed by large hardwood trees, containing shade, cover, nesting areas, and food, for a wide variety of mammals and birds. By September and October the wetlands have started to recede leaving behind vast floodplains of short green grass when the rest of the large islands are at their driest. It is this seasonal food availability and quality that has resulted in the excitement and diversity that is the Mombo area.
Birdlife is prolific, with waterfowl like African Jacana, Pygmy-Geese, massive Goliath Heron and migrant waders in summer being particularly common.
Such geomorphological evolution and variety in vegetation has resulted in a richness and diversity that is legendary amongst the original tribesmen and hunters of the 19th and 20th centuries and the Moremi Game Reserve was amongst the first to be promulgated by tribal request in an effort to protect this legacy.
Conservation at Mombo
Mombo Camp's isolation and variety of suitable vegetation makes the area ideal for delicate reintroduction projects and collaborative conservation efforts between Wilderness Safaris, Botswana's Department of Wildlife (DWNP) and the Botswana Government have realised a dream with the successful reintroduction of the white and black rhino here.
Mombo Camp and Little Mombo camps are integrally involved in the Botswana Rhino Reintroduction Project. In 2001, Wilderness Safaris together with Botswana's Department of Wildlife initiated a programme that has resulted in white rhino running free and wild in the Okavango Delta. The first group of four white rhino arrived at Mombo Camp in November 2001, Wilderness also financing the construction of bomas, much of the transport and much of the monitoring costs. A further 22 rhino arrived as a result of an innovative 'rhino-for-roan' swap between South Africa and Botswana.
The ultimate accolade, though, has come from the rhino themselves. In August 2004, the first white rhino calf was born in the wild in Mombo, 16 months after its mother was released in 2001. Since then, the steady birth rate more than indicates the success of the rhino reintroduction programme.
This is a project of the Wilderness Safaris Wildlife Trust; read more: Botswana Rhino Relocation and Reintroduction Project
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