Early starts are easy when staying at Nxamaseri Island Lodge. Your Delta-facing suite illuminates with the day’s first light and the birds are already well awake, welcoming the new day with a cacophony of melodies which Mother Nature seems to orchestrate herself.
Donning your finest bucket hat, you make your way to the camp’s main area where a fire is crackling and the smell of freshly brewed coffee lingers. Fuelling up is important because you’re about to wrangle some seriously sizeable fish.
Rods packed and your guide at the helm of your transport for this adventure, a boat, of course, you set out on your Okavango Panhandle fishing mission. The barbel (catfish) have begun arriving on their annual run and you’ve heard rumours about the epic tiger fish in this region—they’re indigenous, after all.
Botswana’s Barbel Run is usually in full swing from around November when the Delta’s floodwaters rise and create a complex network of channels and lagoons. However, our guides have already spotted the illustrious whiskers that define these fish in the waters surrounding the lodge.
Starting in mid-August, barbel begin their migration towards the Delta in large numbers. This movement is driven by seasonal water level changes, which prompt the fish to seek new areas for breeding and feeding. As the waters rise, they flood previously inaccessible regions, providing the barbel with rich food resources and new habitats.
Barbels and tigerfish alike congregate in their masses, and we invite you on a guided fishing extravaganza like no other.
(Tigerfish are fierce predators with sleek bodies up to 80 centimetres long and sharp, conical teeth. Barbel, or African sharp-tooth catfish (Clarias gariepinus), common in Botswana, have whisker-like barbels to find food and navigate murky waters, growing up to 1.5 meters long and weighing up to 30 kilograms.)
The Barbel Run is not only a significant event for the fish but also for other wildlife. The influx of fish attracts a variety of predators, including birds, crocodiles, and larger mammals, making it an exciting time for wildlife enthusiasts and photographers.
Situated on a private island in the permanent waters of Botswana’s Okavango Delta, there’s no better place to experience this phenomenon than Nxamaseri Island Lodge.
Our recently refurbished oasis now features a spa and yoga deck, so you can get a good stretch and rest in before casting your lines. Also new is our pizza oven, a Panhandle first, so you can refuel after tussling water tigers and catfish.
Your stay wouldn’t be complete without visiting Tsodilo Hills, a highlight at Nxamaseri Island Lodge. We’ll (very) soon be opening our Tsodilo Hills Sleep-Out Experience to guests, offering you an opportunity to stay amid “The Mountains of the Gods”.
Tsodilo Hills hold sacred significance for the San people of Northern Botswana and are adorned with over 4,000 ancient San paintings. A visit here offers a unique opportunity to experience the essence of an ancient culture, which is delicate and increasingly endangered by external pressures from the modern world.
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