Kwando, Linyanti & Selinda Private Reserves Travel Guide
Kwando, Linyanti & Selinda Private Reserves Travel Guide
This vast, unspoiled wilderness area in Botswana's northern region comprises the extensive Kwando/Linyanti River system. Game-rich and scenic, this area is more remote than some of the other game reserves in Botswana. It offers private, informal safaris without any of the restrictions of national parks. Expect night game drives, bush walks, off-road game drives, canoe and mokoro game viewing and even horseback riding safaris.
Highlights
- Offers excellent chances of spotting wild dog packs
- Remote, vast and unspoiled with riverine forests, extensive grasslands and waterways
- High concentrations of predators, particularly lion and hyena
- Huge herds of elephant and buffalo, especially in the dry season
- Private owner-run lodges offer unrestricted game viewing; night and day drives, bush walks, canoes and mokoros, horseback riding safaris
- Permanent water courses attract game in large numbers
This sprawling, extensive wilderness area consists largely of privately owned and managed concessions. The four main reserves in the area include the Kwando, Selinda, Linyanti and the Chobe Enclave.
Great water-based safari destination
It lies in the remote northern reaches of Botswana and adjoins Namibia's Caprivi Strip. It's also where you'll find the Selinda spillway (which connects the Okavango to the Kwando and Linyanti waterways), a popular water-based canoeing safari destination.
Scenic and varied landscape
The area is scenic and varied, from wide-open grasslands teaming with various antelope to riverine forests where you're likely to encounter shy kudu and sable. There are dense mopane forests where leopards like to hide.
Selinda Reserve leopard
In the reeded waterways and marshes, you'll find large herds of red lechwe, hippo and crocodile. Then there are the open floodplains where the larger antelope roam.
A haven for predators
The Kwando / Linyanti Area is excellent predator turf. There are large, healthy populations of lion and wild dog and the rarer aardwolf can also be seen.
African wild dogs in Selinda Reserve
In the wet season, it becomes a birder's paradise with the arrival of all the migrant species.
Our take on the Kwando / Linyanti Area
The perennial river systems of the Kwando and Linyanti make this area a year-round haven for wildlife, especially in the dry season when large herds of elephant and buffalo come to stay. The safari experience is intimate and relaxed and the opportunity to go on night game drives and guided bush walks is a definite plus.
Duma Tau Camp
DumaTau Camp is an intimate, luxury safari tented camp overlooking an enormous lagoon in Botswana's northern Linyanti area. Bordered to the east by Chobe National Park, DumaTau enjoys an abundance of wildlife and birds, as it's close to the Linyanti marshes and the source of the Savute River, near the confluence of the Kwando and Linyanti rivers. Its remote position offers a private, unhurried safari experience in one of Botswana's pristine conservation areas.
Kings Pool Camp
Kings Pool Camp is a premier luxury safari lodge overlooking the Kings Pool Lagoon and the Linyanti River in northern Botswana. The accommodation is spacious and elegant, combining exclusive luxury with beautiful surroundings, welcoming home comforts and superb service. Kings Pool is in big elephant country, with an excellent chance of seeing lion and wild dog.
Kwando Lagoon Camp
Kwando Lagoon Camp is on the banks of the Kwando River in the Linyanti Kwando Concession in northern Botswana. It offers luxury tented accommodation and excellent year-round game viewing. In an area where predators are abundant, there are also elephant, buffalo, giraffe, zebra, sable antelope and many other species. The popular Animal Planet programme Mad Mike and Mark was filmed in the Kwando area.
Kwando Lebala Camp
Kwando Lebala Camp is located in the south of the Kwando concession adjacent to the Linyanti marshes in northern Botswana. The name 'Lebala' means open plains, which accurately describes the open grasslands, savanna and seasonal floodplains of this area that teems with wildlife. The camp offers exclusive and intimate accommodation in African safari tents. The area has vast populations of elephant, buffalo, lechwe, lions and other animals. Leopard and wild dog are also often seen in this area.
Savuti Camp
Savuti Camp is a luxurious tented camp, raised up on stilts to overlook the scenic Savuti channel which itself is a bit of an enigma. It flows strongly for many decades only to disappear and then reappear many years later, bringing an abundance of wildlife in its wake. The channel has been flowing since 2008, creating an established, game-rich area in one of Botswana's remote and unspoiled wildlife sanctuaries, Kwando/Linyanti Reserve.
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11 Day Botswana and Victoria Falls Safari
It is easy to combine Botswana and Victoria Falls. This trip idea combines four of Botswana's top safari destinations with two nights at Victoria Falls. The duration is flexible, and you can spend an extra night at any destination on this trip. Botswana has many excellent safari lodges, but we always recommend using ones in the same group or family so you can benefit from long-stay specials. This trip idea is based on Desert & Delta Lodges, which are reasonably priced and lie mainly in the national parks.
