The space between safaris
Botswana & Mozambique
© andBeyond
The first thing I learn in Botswana: never stand up in a safari vehicle. The car, our guide explains, is seen as one calm, harmless animal. Stand, and you disrupt the illusion. So I stay seated, heart racing, as a young elephant bull spreads his ears and jogs towards us with adolescent confidence. My journey begins in Chobe National Park in northern Botswana, home to Africa’s largest elephant population – so not seeing one would be the real surprise. From there, I follow the Okavango Delta’s waterways to a pristine island in Mozambique. And somewhere between dust, delta and turquoise, my idea of comfort begins to shift.
Under Canvas, under stars
Under Canvas, under stars
A gentle “Good morning” outside my canvas tent, and in the bush something heavy parts the grass. Chobe Under Canvas is a small mobile camp set deep within Chobe National Park. With only a handful of tents and no fences, privacy is guaranteed and the wilderness very much included. Life here is simple yet comfortable: cool linen, a butler and hot showers on request. I dine beneath the stars to the low roll of lions, then slip behind canvas and sleep deeply as the bush carries on around me.
The weight of silence
The weight of silence
A light aircraft carries me deeper into Botswana, where the Okavango’s waters arrive from Angola, forming a living delta that never seeks the sea. Xaranna Camp shifts the scale entirely, opening into wide floodplains where herds cross the horizon – visible even from my living room, yes, there is one. One afternoon beside the plunge pool, I look up to find an elephant standing just metres away. We both appear mildly surprised. Thanks to his padded feet, several tonnes pass as lightly as feathers. I look up more often now.
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© andBeyond
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© andBeyond
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© andBeyond
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© andBeyond
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© andBeyond
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© andBeyond
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© andBeyond
From delta to dunes
After days of dust and early mornings, Benguerra Island in Mozambique feels like a soft exhale. At Kisawa Sanctuary, private villas disappear into dunes and forests across 300 protected hectares, spectacular in their space and solitude. I practise yoga facing the ocean and watching fishermen move across the shallows as if walking on light. Guests can join marine research dives in the Bazaruto Archipelago, helping monitor sea turtles, sharks and the last viable dugong population in East Africa.
Luxury, without apology
Luxury, without apology
On this journey from the floodplains of the Okavango to the turquoise waters of the Bazaruto Archipelago, luxury reveals itself differently. Marble gives way to canvas, walls dissolve into the horizon, and room service becomes someone walking you to your tent beneath the stars. I arrive expecting sightings and leave noticing the space around them. The wild does not compete with comfort. It simply changes its texture.
Ready to discover what happens between the sightings? Cosa will take you there.
