The Linyanti Wildlife Reserve—Botswana

To the northeast of the Okavango Delta are the Chobe and Linyanti game reserves. These areas are renowned for their predators and large concentrations of game, particularly elephant. Dereck and Beverly Joubert made the region famous in their National Geographic films. Eternal Enemies is a classic and chronicles in detail the interaction between lion and hyena.

There are many varied habitats within the Chobe and Linyanti parks, marshes, waterways, riverine, forests, dry woodlands, and the world famous Savuti Channel. The Savuti Channel is a “waterway” that connects the Linyanti Rive from Zibandianja lagoo, with the interior of the Chobe National Park at the Savuti marsh. The Savuti has only ever flowed intermittently and dried up for the last time in 1980. Today the Savuti Channel is an open grassland and home to a variety of different animals. Along Chobe National Park’s western boundary is the private 275 000 acre Linyanti Wildlife Reserve.

This area is very different from the Okavango and should be included in every Botswana itinerary so that travelers have a more varied and balanced experience of the country. This private reserve is an enormous area shared between four small camps – DumaTau, Kings, Pool, Linyanti Tented Camp and Savuti Camp. There are three main featuares of the Linyanti Wildlife Reserve: the Linyanti River, Savuti Channel, and the woodlands of the interior. Two thirds of the famous Savuti Channel is in this private reserve and guests are able to view the abundant wildlife privately and exclusively. The last stretches of Africa’s Great Rift Valley divide the forests of the interior with the rivers and floodplains of the Linyanti and it is along this ridge (and along the Savuti Channel) that one sees the best available.

For more information about this and other parts of a South African safari experience, please contact us. Our experienced team will help you build the perfect safari pacakge.

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