Belmond Eagle Island Lodge

Mokoro excursions through the Okavango Delta's papyrus channels are the lodge's signature activity, poled silently by a local guide over water so clear you can watch fish move beneath the canoe. Rebuilt almost entirely in 2015, this wilderness camp refocused itself around the Delta's water rather than the vehicle-based game drives more typical of a dryland safari, a genuine shift in how a Botswana stay can feel.

Motorboat cruises and guided walks on nearby islands round out the water-and-land mix, and a private-island bar tucked away from the main camp is worth the short walk for a sundowner with nobody else around. Being part of the same portfolio as Savute Elephant Lodge makes it easy to pair this water-based stay with a more traditional land safari elsewhere in Botswana.