The main activities here are game drives and night drives, which are usually conducted using open-topped Toyota Land Cruisers which take a maximum of seven guests. That said, when the river’s dry the camp is pumping water up into a small pan in front of camp – so your veranda can also be a good venue for game sightings.
Serious walking trips are also a feature here, and Capricorn advise that they will only use top professional walking guides who are armed. (‘The standard of a Zimbabwe professional guide, with experience’ – which is pretty much the gold standard of guiding in southern Africa.) Thus if you are keen on walking, then I’d let them know this when you book into the camp. If they consistently live up to this promise, then Starling’s will be one of the few places in the region that really offers high-quality walking trips.
Depending on the season, mokoro trips are also possible from here. Water levels for this are generally feasible from around late-May to September, though obviously this varies from year to year. Similarly, the camp offers boating trips when possible. The Gomoti is rarely navigable and so they usually use one of the boat stations up at Mboma Island or Xakanaxa, in Moremi. This requires a game drive of about 90 minutes each way, and the pay-off is that you’re then boating in a very interesting area at the heart of Moremi.
If you’ve a yearning for more culture, then a visit to the Shandereka Cultural Village, on the eastern side of NG34 near Sankuyo, can be organised. These trips usually take most of a day and include a picnic lunch. They give you a chance to meet and interact with the local Bayei people – perhaps taking part in some of their domestic and ceremonial life, as well as go for walks in the bush to learn about tracking animals and gathering wild plants.
Finally, if you want to combine a mokoro trip with a safari here, then Starling’s Camp has combined with Planet Okavango (in neighbouring NG32) to offer a combined five-night/six-day ‘Sitatunga Trail’. This includes two nights at mokoro fly-camp, three at Starlings, and includes all transfers and activities for US$750/850 per person sharing/single. It excludes drinks and laundry, but even so looks like a very good deal – and makes efficient use of your road transfers.