Where to go

Kwando, Linyanti and Selinda

An untouched and vital region

The Linyanti
The Linyanti

Deserving of a section in its own right, these three private concessions sit between the Kwando and the Chobe Rivers and provide a valuable source of permanent water for northern Botswana and the animals that head north into the Chobe National Park as the Kalahari dries to the south. This is a region of marshland, riparian forest and river systems that have flowed from Angola and flow on to the Chobe River and on to the Zambezi. The series of lagoons and dried river beds offer some of the least occupied game areas in Botswana and supply a welcome foil to the busier sections along the Chobe River.

Formed from the flow of the Kwando River that, as with the Kavango River, started its life in the highlands of Angola. As the river hits the soft Kalahari sands, as with the Okavango, it spreads out to form the Linyanti marshes and, in the fuller years, a full delta of marshland to the north of the Kwando and Linyanti Rivers, which mark the border between Namibia and Botswana.

Where once, it was thought that the Kwando then flowed on, via the Savuti Channel, to the Savute and Mababe Depression in Chobe, due to a shift in the fault lines, this water is collected into the Linyanti River and flows north easterly to eventually join the Chobe River.

Each of the concessions offers something a little different and all, arguably, come into their prime from a game viewing perspective, from around June until the end of the year as the other areas of Chobe and the Okavango become drier and water more scarce.

Topography

Offering a much boarder spectrum of habitats from the marsh and wetlands around the Linyanti and Kwando Rivers to the drier, mopane forests and the dry river beds of the Savute Channel and the Selinda Spillway allows this region of Botswana to offer a good range of animals to see. As mentioned in the Chobe section, this area gets very good numbers of zebra in particular as the dry season comes into affect and the herds have completed their mover from the pans, through Chobe National Park and up to the rivers edge.

Best time to visit the Kwando, Linyanti and Selinda Concessions:

  • NJan
  • NFeb
  • MMar
  • YApr
  • YMay
  • YJun
  • YJul
  • YAug
  • YSep
  • YOct
  • MNov
  • MDec
  •   = Yes   = No   = Maybe

    At a glance...Kwando, Linyanti and Kwando Concessions

  • Size: 4,920 square miles
  • Location: Northern Botswana, West of Kasane
  • Recommended time: 3 to 6 nights
  • Time to visit: Year round
  • Safari Activities: Walking, driving, starbeds
  • Topography: Cathedral mopane, flood plains
  • Main species: Lechwe, zebra, big 5, hyena, giraffe
  • Further reading...

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