Chief’s Island is a special place in the middle of the Okavango Delta and one of its largest island, which is bordered by majestic, meandering waterways.The Chief’s Island located in the heart of Moremi Game Reserve, is a massive sand island or “sandveld tongue” that covers 1,000 km2 of the central Delta region. On the northwestern tip of Chief’s Island lies one of the most famous game viewing areas in Okavango, the Mombo Concession. Mombo is known to be BaYei locals as “the place of plenty” and arguably the most fertile land of the Okavango. Mombo is situated just below where the Okavango River splits into three primary channels and supports a diversity of wildlife hard to find anywhere else in Africa. When the water levels of the Okavango rise in the time of winter floods, many animals move to find dry land on the island.
The magic of this island does not, however, lie in its unique location but the abundant, diverse wildlife that inhabits this African bushveld paradise. It’s famous for its game concentrations and rightly so. There are many large herds of impala, red lechwe, zebra, wildebeest and buffalo whilst tsessebe, giraffe and reedbuck are also often seen. Warthogs seem to be everywhere, as do big troops of baboon, vervet monkeys and banded mongoose. The lagoons are home to large crocodiles and a number of noisy hippos. You will often find the elephants here, large breeding herds quenching their thirst. You can hear the wallowing hippos groan in the distance, catch a sight of a cheetah stretch its limbs in the soaring sun, see vervet monkeys that is playing joyfully in their bushveld home or spot the elusive leopard lurking in its favourite tree hiding.
The canals surrounding the exotic isle also hide a wider array of bird species and wildlife than you could imagine. Hop on one of Gunns Camp’s traditional mokoro canoes and drift across the reeds between the papyrus clad banks of one of the numerous Okavango channels.
It’s not surprising that visitors fall in love with the serenity of this wildlife sanctuary over and over again. There is nothing quite as tranquil and calming as flowing across the waterways of the Delta with your senses heightened noticing. each and every sight, sound and scent of the beautiful Chief’s Island and its residents.