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Eagle Island Lodge, A Belmond Safari, Botswana
Okavango Delta, Botswana · Belmond · High Luxury
The site now occupied by Eagle Island Lodge was established as Botswana's first permanent safari camp in the early 1900s by the Wilmot family — beginning as a crocodile-hunting operation on Xaxaba Island, whose name means 'island of tall trees' in the local language. Orient-Express Hotels (later Belmond) acquired the camp in 1993; after a ten-month closure the entire lodge was rebuilt and reopened in November 2015, designed by The Gallery HBA to reference local ant-nest architecture. The 12 tented rooms sit on the Okavango Delta's UNESCO World Heritage site.
- 12 rooms
- Opened 1993
- Neighborhood: Okavango
- Rooms from 883 sq ft (82 m²)
- Architect: Hirsch Bedner Associates
- Interiors: Hirsch Bedner Associates; MUZA Lab
About Eagle Island Lodge, A Belmond Safari, Botswana
- Eric Cronje Wilmot emigrated to Botswana around 1907 to work on tsetse-fly control; his son Bobby later established a crocodile-hunting camp on Xaxaba Island that became the direct forerunner of today's lodge. Bobby was bitten by a snake and died in 1968, leaving his son Lloyd to transform it into Botswana's first permanent photographic safari camp by the early 1970s.
- When Moremi Wildlife Reserve expanded in 1975 to absorb the original Xaxaba site, Lloyd Wilmot had to relocate the camp upstream — taking the 'Xaxaba' name to the new island that is now Eagle Island Lodge's home.
- The Okavango Delta receives its annual flood not from local rainfall but from rain falling in Angola, arriving months later through 1,000 km of inland channels — the largest inland delta system on Earth and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2014.
- Eagle Island Lodge's Fish Eagle Bar was named by The New York Times as one of the most romantic bars in the world, perched on the lagoon's edge with the African fish eagle's call as its signature soundtrack.
- Entry-level rooms start at 883 sq ft (82 m²).
History
Xaxaba Island — meaning 'island of tall trees' — was one of the first permanent safari camps in the Okavango Delta, established in the early 1900s by the Wilmot family as an explorer and crocodile-hunting camp. The Zimbabwean couple Paul and Penny Rawson later developed it into a safari lodge. Belmond (then Orient-Express Hotels) acquired it in 1993. After a ten-month closure, the entire lodge was rebuilt and reopened in November 2015 by The Gallery HBA, inspired by the Delta's flowing waters and local ant-nest architecture, with 12 tented rooms each featuring private plunge pools.
The setting
Located on a private island in the deepest, most water-rich channels of the Okavango Delta — a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the world's largest inland wetland systems. Accessible only by light aircraft from Maun.
Restaurants and bars
- Lodge restaurant — Restaurant
- Boma — Restaurant · traditional African
- Open-air bar — Bar
Experiences
- Game viewing activities — Minimum 2 game viewing activities included per day.
- Celebrations and proposals — Spot big game on team drives at dawn, dine under star-studded skies or create a romantic proposal as hippos graze the nearby waterways.
- Group events and takeovers — A fully customisable safari adventure for groups.
- Bush dining and picnics — Dining in the bush and picnics offered at the lodge.
Amenities
- Private plunge pool per tent
- Mokoro (dugout canoe) excursions
- Motorboat game drives
- Helicopter flips
- Night game drives
- Walking safaris
- Bird watching (over 400 species)
- Solar power
- All-inclusive dining and activities
Awards
- Condé Nast Traveller Readers' Choice Awards (2025)
- Conde Nast Traveller recommended
- UNESCO World Heritage Site location
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