Sitatunga Private Island

The camp is built on raised decks of reclaimed railway sleepers in the canopy of ebony trees, and the island is entirely surrounded by water. There are two suites in the main camp and a separate two-bedroom Private Island Suite, with room for up to eight guests in all. Each suite has an indoor lounge, a bathroom with a bath, a deck and a plunge pool, and the look is a castaway style of bamboo, thatch and salvaged materials.

This is a water camp. Motorboats explore the lagoons and river, mokoro trips use the smaller channels when water levels allow, and guided walks can be arranged. Tag-and-release fishing runs from March to December. Great Plains does not list game drives as a regular activity here. Guests usually fly to the Duba Plains airstrip and then take a short helicopter hop to the island. In a Botswana trip it is the quiet water stop, paired with land camps.

Sitatunga Private Island suits couples, photographers and birders, and families who take the Private Island Suite, which comes with its own guide and boat. Children from six are accepted, though mokoro trips are for eight and up. The honest caveat is that there is little big game: you come for sitatunga, hippo, crocodile, elephant and birds, not lion. Inter-camp flights are included for stays of two nights or more.