Sanctuary Chief's Camp
Chief's Island Maun, Moremi Game Reserve Botswana
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About
#5 of 31 Specialty lodging in Moremi Game Reserve
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Sanctuary Chief’s Camp has twelve luxury bush pavilions, all with their own private decks as well as both indoor and outdoor showers. When visiting Sanctuary Chief’s Camp you’ll see why Conde Nast Traveler consistently rates it as one of the top safari destinations in Botswana. The camp is part of the magazine’s exclusive “Platinum Circle” in recognition of its inclusion in the prestigious Gold List for the last five consecutive years. The split-level main deck offers expansive views over the floodplain while the lower level of the deck houses an exquisite swimming pool to cool off after a day of exciting game viewing. The main area houses a bar, curio shop, library reception and dining area. For a rejuvenating pampering session, choose from a range of treatments at the camp’s treatment room. The twelve guest pavilions are nestled in a jackalberry and sausage tree woodland that is characteristic of the area. Each guest pavilion boasts an indoor and outdoor shower, a spacious seating area and a private game viewing deck overlooking the surrounding floodplains of the Okavango Delta. Sumptuous four poster beds with generously draped mosquito nets and traditional ceiling fans also feature and for your convenience, the rooms are equipped with a hairdryer, ceiling fan, room safe, emergency intercom and minibar.
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Property amenities
Free High Speed Internet (WiFi)
Pool
Free breakfast
Airport transportation
Massage
Mosquito net
Outdoor fireplace
Laundry service
Wifi
Pool / beach towels
Pool with view
Outdoor pool
Bar / lounge
Restaurant
Breakfast buffet
Special diet menus
Poolside bar
Sun terrace
Ironing service
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Room features
Private balcony
Safe
Room types
Family rooms
Good to know
HOTEL CLASS
HOTEL STYLE
Luxury
Family
Languages Spoken
English, French, Italian
350Reviews9Q+A75Room tips
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Our 3-week safari adventure began at Chief's Camp. The warm welcome from the choir and all the staff set the tone for the rest of our stay. Imagine our surprise when Bonnie, one of the amazing managers, walked us to our room to find out that we had been upgraded to the Geoffrey Kent suite! It was massive and is essentially 2 rooms joined together by a common lounge complete with bar and catering kitchen, enormous outdoor seating area and dining table and its own boma (fire pit). Throughout out stay we were treated like kings, including a special performance by the choir to present us with a birthday cake which we ended up sharing with all the guests. It was a spectacular evening (they all were!). It's the little touches like that which set Chiefs Camp to a higher level of service, hospitality and professionalism, Our guide, Nouriha, was phenomenal! What an amazing tracker/spotter. Every day we challenged him to find a particular animal (lion, leopard, cheetah, etc.) and every day he delivered! He was awesome! Food at Chief's was outstanding and the service we received from Connie, Tsidi, Monk and all the dining room/kitchen staff was exemplary. Ver's massage in the spa was perfect as well. Rati, the boutique Manager, couldn't have been more helpful, friendly and welcoming. Of course high praise also goes to Basadi and Katherine, two of the camps exceptional managers who set the standard for what genuine hospitality is about. In every category across the board Chiefs Camp gets the highest marks. They set an incredibly high bar for the camps we would subsequently visit. Bravo Chiefs Camp team!…
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Date of stay: May 2022
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We were a party of four staying at Chiefs for five nights - from the moment we arrived we had nothing but excellent service from a team of happy, smiling and thoughtful staff. The manager, Basadi and our guide, Chief, get special praise for going the extra mile. We too loved the Braai (which we were lucky enough to have twice due to a four day rota) and the 'build your own pizza' lunch was exceptional. We saw more wildlife than we could possibly hope for - Lions a plenty, Leopard, Cheetah and as many Elephant, Giraffe, Buffalo etc as you could ever want. The staff spoilt us from dawn to dusk and we were truly sad to leave. Being serenaded by the staff 'choir' on the occasion of a birthday was wonderful and unique.
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Date of stay: May 2022
Rooms
Location
Service
Room Tip: All the rooms, bar 'the house', are basically the same - all luxurious suites
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Helpful
From the moment we arrived at the lodge the staff really made us feel at home. Catherine and Vee are excellent hosts and really made us feel welcome. Our guide Tim has a passion for wildlife and tracking and every game drive was exceptional in its own way. The game viewing was the best of our journey and Tim really shared with us a lot of his knowledge of tracking. We really hope to return some day. Our room was beautiful and had all the amenities we could hope for. I really loved taking a dip in the cool pool prior to our afternoon game drive. We enjoyed our meals and really enjoyed being there when they had the pizza oven fired up! Hopefully if you travel there, you will get to enjoy a BBQ by the fire with the sweet serenading of the camp choir. We love Chief's Camp and really hope to return.…
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Date of stay: April 2022
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Emma26Oxfordshire_UK wrote a review May 2022
Oxfordshire, United Kingdom214 contributions59 helpful votes
Great location with amazing wildlife which our Guide Kanosi was passionate about and did a great job in finding animals especially when the grasses were so high in some areas. Vee gives the best massages and facials EVER - do book her for a treatement during siesta time.Highly recommended! Food is good but Afternoon tea is just fruit and drinks - we didn’t need any more and welcomed the change from cakes in other lodges but I’m sure if we needed more food they would have provided it. The rest of the food was great and the last night they did a traditional boma with entertainment while has great. Basabi and the team are all super friendly, efficient and fun.
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Date of stay: May 2022Trip type: Travelled as a couple
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This camp presents itself as high and but the outcome is mostly mid range. Despite this the camp location and guides are amazing and this makes up for the relatively average standard of the place. They try hard on the food but it isn’t very good. The actual finish of the rooms is ok but it’s not luxurious. We had some of the best game drives I’ve had in Africa though so I’d say it was well worth the visit.
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Date of stay: November 2021Trip type: Travelled as a couple
Helpful
Lovely camp - beautiful room, excellent food, and the general staff were very kind and friendly. Wildlife was a little sparse, due primarily to the time of year (November). Why only 2 stars? Well, the camp is unfairly gouging and profit-taking on covid testing. Very unprofessional. I prepaid for a covid test with my operator, which was then paid from my operator to Santuary Retreats (Chief's parent co). The cost to me solely was USD $600, which included the PCR test and the entire flight. I had to pay for the entire flight as there were no other guests booking the test at the time. When I was tested, there were now 4 other guests getting tested, so instead of just me, there were 5 of us in total. The other 4 guests were also charged in full for the flight. When they asked why they also had to pay for the flight, after I had already paid for it in full, they were told by management that there was nothing they could do. So they each paid USD$200 for the testing and the flight combined. I paid $600. I asked whether they could simply refund me the difference, and split the cost of the flight 5 ways. They said no. They said I would have to go through my tour operator for a refund. My tour operator went to Santuary Retreats: Their response was that there would be no refund, DESPITE THE FACT THAT THE FIVE OF US PAID FOR THE SAME EXACT FLIGHT TWICE! One plane and five covid tests amounted to USD $1,400 in total, when the amount should have been about $800. Disappointed in the short-sightedness of Sanctuary. Not professional.…
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Date of stay: November 2021
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Response from Sanctuary Retreats, Guest Services / Front Office at Sanctuary Chief's Camp
Responded 23 Dec 2021
Thank you for your review and we’re sorry you weren’t happy with the service you received. As the Covid test was prebooked directly through your operator, and following other guests also booking the same flight, a refund was made to your operator. If you have had any problems receiving this refund, please reach out to your operator directly. Many thanks, Sanctuary Chief's Camp
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We had a great time at Chief's. The game viewing started out a little slow but picked up towards the middle of our stay. Overall, we had great game viewings and saw what we wanted to see, including leopards, wild dogs, and especially the cheetahs. Someone had spotted the cheetahs earlier in the day so we went out to look for them in the afternoon but no luck. Sky, our guide, knew that we really wanted to see cheetahs so he continued to look the next morning. He was the one who first spotted the cheetah that morning, while other vehicles already went looking for something else. We spent about 1.5 hours following the cheetah and her cub and saw their encounter with the hyenas and feeding on an earlier impala kill. It was the best sighting for this trip. Regarding the camp, I feel the staff were a step above all the safari camps I've been to in terms of customer service. Basadi and her team made us feel very welcomed and comfortable during our week-long stay. By the time we left, we became familiar with many friendly faces Thuso, Tumi, Connie, Mawe, etc. Even though it was quite hectic to travel during this time, my overall experience at Chief's made it worthwhile.…
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Date of stay: May 2021
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Helpful
Having stayed at 4 differs Sanctuary Safari Camps in Africa so far, they are all outstanding and offer there own unique characteristics, however, our recent 5 night stay at Chiefs Camp stands out mostly due to the wonderful staff. Every single staff member from Manager to room maids to laundress to waiters address us by our first names and were wonderfully kind/friendly. The general manger Basadi took great care of us through covid testing and a one day tummy bug Julie had. Our guide Norriah always found the animals and also shared his wealth of knowledge about them - as well as pointing out interesting facts about the flora, seasons, birds etc. Food was awesome!
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Date of stay: May 2021
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Room Tip: In May the mornings and evenings are quite cool so bring jackets etc. The days are wonderfully warm
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I just got back from 12 fantastic days at Sanctuary Chobe and Sanctuary Chiefs. Both are first class lodges. The service is outstanding,the food is very good and always different. I never had the same menu twice. The lodges are very clean and I cannot emphasize enough how friendly and attentive everyone was. I was able to go fishing on the Chobe River 3 days and had a great time. Th e Chobe lodge can set up the guide service for you with Charlie ,who knows the river like the back of his hand. I recommend the afternoon river cruise with cocktails. The skiff goes up the river from Kasani. Hippos, crocs, beautiful birds. elephants all can be seen from the guided boat. My guide was Bobby and I highly recommend him. He will teach you a lot about nature. We became good friends. So after 6 days at Chobe Lodge I flew over to Chiefs Camp and was met by my guide ,Chief, naturally. He was excellent on the game drives. I had a terrific education and looked forward to each day we went out. We saw the Big 5 which was really an amazing experience. The lodge has a beautiful natural setting on the Okavango Delta. Wild animals are all over the place. I could hear a leopard grunting as he walked by my room around 1 in the morning. The team was all singing to me as I arrived. It made for a warm and friendly welcome that I will not forget. On the third day I got in a helicopter arranged by the lodge and flew to a secluded fishing lodge about 45 minutes away .Nxamaseri Fishing Lodge. There I was picked up by my guide Fish, naturally. As soon as I unpacked we were on the river flyfishing for Tigerfish. Wow, was that fantastic.Great fishing.{I brought my own gear} I stayed overnight ,fished the next day and then flew back to Chiefs. I REALLY recommend Chiefs. I made friends with the whole staff. Did I mention that I was the ONLY guest at all 3 lodges! Had my own private guide for all 12 days. I will return with my wife to Botswana and go see my friends again.…
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Date of stay: April 2021
Value
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Service
1 Helpful vote
Helpful
Service, staff, accommodation, food all deserve the highest rating. Big Chief’s Camp is a luxurious retreat in the Okavango Moremi Game Reserve. Our stay was organized for us through Africa Travel Resources (a travel company I would definitely recommend). The guests accommodation consists of a very spacious villa with a double door private entrance, lobby with drinks, large bedroom/living with American king bed covered with a mosquito net (not that we saw mosquitoes but better be safe than sorry), walk in closet, large bathroom with stand alone bath overlooking the veranda, inside and outside showers, large patio with private splash pool, sitting and also eating area. The manager Bastidi is the driving force behind a staff offering a service that surpasses expectations. No need to ask, your needs are all catered too… Bastadi noticed I had insect bites on my feet, without me requesting anything, she offered me two antiseptic creams and a staff brought to our room hot water to be pored in a cooper (cooper is a natural antibiotic) basin all with coarse salt so that I could have feet baths. That’s going beyond the call of duty! Our guide, Chief, was also amazing, always the first to find all the animals… and thereafter calling the others, so that they come see the leopard he had found, the wild dogs, buffalos, elephants, giraffes, hippopotamus, kudus, zebras and more. In our two days stay we saw leopards three times. The last time was pretty eventful…as Chief was walking us to dinner on the guests pathway, there was a leopard walking in front of us only two meters away. Chief reassured us, insisting we keep calm but to keep close to him. We left the pathway…so the leopard wouldn’t feel cornered and took, guided by Chief’s flashlight, a secondary path in the bush to arrive at the dining area from the opposite direction. What an experience! The jeeps were first class, large and high, being capable to go through almost any terrain. The first night, when we returned to our villa a pleasant surprise was organized for us. Our housekeeper had prepared the bed with hearts, flowers, candles and a bath with overflowing foam. The table was set with candles on our private verandah. We called to make our selection from the menu and two staff came to serve us, a service at a time. The food, like always, was succulent, fit for a gourmet's palate. For breakfast and lunch, you can expect beautiful laid buffet with top quality, well prepared foods with a perfect blend of flavors plus a choice of two hot meals to choose from …as if the buffet wasn’t sufficient! Sadly, this most memorable experience had to end, but it did on a high note with a barbecue around a camp fire with all the staff singing and dancing for us. Sanctuary Chief's Camp was simply the very best!…
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Date of stay: March 2020
Rooms
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Sleep Quality
2 Helpful votes
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ALSO KNOWN AS
sanctuary chief`s camp hotel moremi game reserve
LOCATION
BotswanaNorth-West DistrictOkavango DeltaMoremi Game Reserve
NUMBER OF ROOMS
12
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Claim Your Listing Frequently Asked Questions about Sanctuary Chief's Camp
What are some of the property amenities at Sanctuary Chief's Camp?
Some of the more popular amenities offered include free wifi, free breakfast, and a pool.
What food & drink options are available at Sanctuary Chief's Camp?
Guests can enjoy free breakfast, an on-site restaurant, and a lounge during their stay.
Are there opportunities to exercise at Sanctuary Chief's Camp?
Yes, guests have access to a pool during their stay.
Does Sanctuary Chief's Camp have airport transportation?
Yes, Sanctuary Chief's Camp offers airport transportation for guests. We recommend calling ahead to confirm details.
Which languages are spoken by the staff at Sanctuary Chief's Camp?
The staff speaks multiple languages, including English, French, and Italian.