The iconic Abu Camp, synonymous with the African elephant has closed. However, a new collection of luxury villas and lodges under band of Singita will be opening in 2026 in this beautiful and very productive game area.

Abu Concession is a pristine pocket of riverine forest in a private reserve of 180 000 hectares (400 000 acres) in the northern Okavango Delta. During the seasonal floods of the Okavango Delta this areas allows you traverse the waters in the mokoros. The landscape of the concession incorporates more variety than some areas of the Delta with permanent water and ranges from palm islands and channels in the north to Kalahari sand in the west where the Kalahari apple leaf proliferates. You will see buffalo, lechwe, wildebeest, impala and giraffe, zebra and warthog. Lions move through the concession and leopard are seen. For bird watchers, 380 species have been recorded in the concession.

The concession area was named after former Abu camp which in turn was named after Abu the elephant who first appeared in a Clint Eastwood’s 1990 film “White Hunter, Black heart”. At the start of Abu camp, Abu along with other elephants rescued from exploitative situations were brought to Botswana and Africa’s first elephant back safaris were pioneered in the Okavango Delta seventeen years ago. Elephant back safaris were stopped in December 2016 and the focus of the experience moved to conservation and awareness of these magnificent giants. For the initial years’ guests were able to interact with the resident elephant herd, meeting each individual and journeying into the complex herd behaviour. Each pachyderm has a fascinating individual story and character. Some were rescued from captivity or as orphans. The herd’s offspring never experienced life in captivity; all Abu herd calves had been sired by wild males.

This allowed Abu Camp’s long commitment to elephant conservation to entered the next phase, of integrating the Abu Herd members into wild herds.  This process was led by elephant experts, ensuring the optimum wellbeing of each elephant as they adjusted to this change at their own pace. Nowadays, if you happen to come across the Abu Herd on your game drives you will observe them as they go about their daily lives, at the same distance from which wild elephants would normally be viewed.