Okavango Horse Safaris is introducing something new for the Delta. For 2027, the family-run safari operation is launching a series of artist-led retreats, offering a different way to experience the landscape beyond the traditional safari format.
Set within a vast private concession in the western Okavango Delta, the retreats are designed to open the safari experience up to a broader audience. Artists, designers and creatively curious travellers are invited to engage with the Delta not just through wildlife viewing, but through observation, interpretation and making.
The programme launches with two separate five-night retreats, each led by an artist with a distinct approach.
The first, developed in partnership with Art of Africa, is led by South African artist Joni-Leigh Doran. This retreat is rooted in plein air painting, with a focus on working directly in the landscape. Guests spend time outdoors sketching and painting, responding to the shifting light, wildlife and environment around them. Doran’s connection to both riding and the bush allows for a natural, unstructured rhythm, where time spent looking and understanding the landscape is central to the experience.
The second, the Kujwana Art and Design Retreat led by British textile designer Freya Roze, takes place in April 2027. Freya’s work is more design-led, drawing on previous residencies in locations including Kenya and Iceland. Her approach encourages guests to translate what they see into colour, texture and pattern, rather than focusing on representation. The retreat is relaxed and social, combining creative sessions with time spent out on the water, in the bush and around camp.
Both retreats sit within the wider Okavango Horse Safaris experience. Because the safari operates within a private concession, guests can explore the Delta in different ways throughout their stay. This might include mokoro canoe journeys through the waterways, guided bush walks, night drives, and for those who ride, time on horseback across the floodplains. The format works equally well for riders and non-riders travelling together.
What makes these retreats different is where they take place. While art and design retreats are well established elsewhere, they are rarely set within a working safari environment, and almost never within the Okavango Delta itself. Here, the landscape is constantly changing, shaped by water, wildlife and light, creating a setting that naturally lends itself to creative work.
For Okavango Horse Safaris, this marks a natural evolution. It builds on the same philosophy that underpins the safari, which is about moving through the Delta at its own pace and finding ways to connect more closely with the environment.
Open to riders and non-riders
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