The Chobe National Park usually takes centre stage on a Botswana safari. Famous for its concentrations of elephant at the Chobe River, as well as the predators of the Savuti grasslands, the Chobe Park is a popular destination, especially when combined with the wetlands of the Okavango Delta.
But there’s the problem. It’s popular; and in dry season, that means a lot of other visitors. And to enjoy Chobe’s natural diversity – wetlands, riverine forests, savannah – you have to go to different places within the park as well as the Okavango.
So why not put it all together in one destination – elephants, predators, rivers, mixed habitats – and make it so that almost no-one else is there. Now you have Linyanti.
A labyrinthine landscape of wetlands, woodlands, rivers and grasslands, the Linyanti is a wild swathe of land sandwiched between the Chobe National Park and Namibia’s Caprivi Strip. It’s far from any town, without any tarred roads and all movement in and out of Linyanti is by light aeroplane.
Once divided into hunting concessions, the Linyanti was given over to photographic tourism in the early 2000s, and a number of small, exclusive lodges now provide the accommodation. Most safari lodges are set on the Linyanti River itself, which means an Okavango Delta type experience with boating and kayaking trips offered.
Back from the water, a mix of woodland and grassland means a diverse range of wildlife and there are several Linyanti ‘specials’. Not only do visitors enjoy large numbers of the animals that are seen in the Chobe National Park but Linyanti has a reputation for rarer sightings, such as African wild dog and leopard.
It is also known for two major wildlife events: Linyanti is one of the few places you can see lions hunting hippopotamus, and it’s the dry season refuge of thousands of zebras. The zebra herds disperse into the Kalahari during the rains but return to the Linyanti wetlands in long stripey lines as the dry winter season kicks in.
It’s easy to experience as well. Linyanti’s lodges are generally set on private concessions which means that as well as morning and afternoon game drives, you will also be offered spot-lit night drives and guided walks too – activities prohibited in the Chobe National Park. Your Linyanti guide is allowed to drive off-road for extra-special sightings, and given the limited number of beds at the lodges, you’ll be enjoying exclusive sightings and crowd-free drives throughout your stay.
When best to visit Linyanti? Like most of Botswana, this is a dry-season destination: from May to October, you’ll experience increasingly dry weather with growing concentrations of wildlife at water as winter wears on. June and July are quite cold, especially at night; September and October can be extremely hot, but this is also when most animals are gathered at Linyanti’s water sources, and consequently it’s the best time to see predators in action.
Linyanti can be combined – via charter flights – with close by Victoria Falls and Botswana’s more familiar destinations such as the Chobe National Park, the Okavango Delta and Moremi Game Reserve but such is the depth of natural diversity in Linyanti that you could simply spend all your time there and enjoy much the same experiences: less time travelling, more time on safari. It’s the Linyanti.
