Mma Dinare Camp

Mma Dinare Camp - Overview

Located in a beautiful private concession in the southern Okavango, Mma Dinare is a comfortable lodge offering a traditional safari experience in an exciting area well known for the concentration of predators. Offering a mix of land and water activities, with year round game drives (day and night) as well as seasonal boating and mokoro excursions, Mma Dinare offers a well rounded okavango safari.

Mma Dinare Camp - Full Report

Mma Dinare (meaning ‘Mother Buffalo’ in Setswana) is a lovely camp set on the Gomoti river in the south-eastern side of the Delta. The camp lies in a private concession, the Dinare concession, of 272 square kilometres/67,000 acres. This is a subdivision of the Santawani area and is a community area managed by the Sankuyo Tshwaragano Management Trust. The Dinare concession is limited to forty guests in two camps run by the same operator, Kwando Safaris, the sister camp Rra Dinare is far enough away to ensure the low tourist density and a more exclusive safari experience.

The camp has nine tents including one family tent and one additional guide’s tent. All have canvas porched individual decks and views across the Gomoti River and the surrounding floodplains with seasonal water are the archetypal Okavango wetlands landscape. The rooms incorporate canvas for a traditional safari feel but the furnishing gives a modern twist. Bathrooms are en suite and have double hand basins.

The main area at Mma Dinare Camp is open and thatched so as to harmonise with the natural beauty of the Delta’s riverine forest and there is a bar, swimming pool and curio shop. The dining/sitting area is raised on stilts and decked and an attractive fire pit area runs off it.

Day and night game drives are on offer and take place on and off road. Vehicles will take no more than six people plus the guide and a tracker. Game drives are the predominant focus for mos of the year however when water levels allow water activities in the form of boating and  mokoro excurions on the Gomoti river are offered when the river levels permit. This is generally June to August/September but also earlier in the year if the local rains are good. It is worth noting that the Mokoro trips are not quite the same as more central Delta areas because they are limited to one larger waterway, but still ofer a very peaceful safari experience and different perspective.

Walking safaris are also available depending on the seasonal conditions – thick vegetation or high numbers of elephant in the area for example would restrict walking. Often this experience will concentrate on the smaller details of the bushveld offering fascinating insight to the bushveld and the guide’s tracking skills: learning about smaller plants and animals although you may be able to come close to giraffes or other large animals which is an entirely different experience from motorised game viewing.

The game viewing at Mma Dinare Camp experience in this concession is regarded as very productive and rich. Mma Dinare Camp benefits from the wildlife of the Moremi Game Reserve. The Santawani concession usually receives Delta floods and because of its south eastern position in the Delta, generally provides dry season watering points for the game that moves into the Nxai and Makgadikgadi pans during the rainy season when there is food in those areas. This water results in good dry season game density, although the movement of game does mean that often the predators such as Lions and Wild Dog are on the move rather than holding territory in the area. Furthermore, the Mopane woodland of the area is another draw for animals during the rainy season and the start of the dry season, although the mopane woodlands are often less game rich than the river frontage and the floodplains. There are also attractive hardwood forests.

Birdlife is varied and wide ranging due to the combination of habitats. The Mopane and Acacia woodlands and grasslands are home to Raptors, Shrikes, Sunbirds, Ground Hornbills and many more species. The Okavango wetlands support aquatic avians such as Ibis, Storks, Hammerkops, lapwings etc. The wide variety of game found in the area includes: Giraffe, Hippo, Crocodile, Elephant and Buffalo and smaller mammals such as Honey Badger. Kudu, Tsessebe, and Impala are to be found but in addition so are antelope seldom seen in the Okavango area such as Roan, Sable and Eland. The Gomoti river is a draw for big cats: Lion, Leopard and Cheetah who will visit the river to drink.

Mma Dinare Camp prides itself on its eco-credentials, based on its use of solar and waste technology.