Linyanti Expeditions: Our full report

An intimate seasonal safari camp set in the private Linyanti Wilderness Reserve.

Six simple but comfortable tents with "star suite" extensions are surrounded by a wonderfully varied landscape, rich with wildlife, with a singular focus on the safari experience.

Linyanti Expeditions is a seasonal safari camp set up on the southern banks of the Linyanti River during the dry season from May to October when game congregates around its perennial waters.

It is a small and intimate camp with just six tents. Sumptuously simple, earthen tones and materials – canvas, wood, leather and copper – give each a timeless, "lived-in" feel that’s right at home in the bush. Proper safari camp standards like outdoor bucket showers and sides that can be rolled up are welcome, but unique gazebo-style "star suite" extensions are a real highlight. Beds can be moved here at night to allow a sleep-out experience with only thin mesh walls and roof between you and the night sky.

At the heart of the camp, you'll find two further canvas tents on raised wooden decks by the boma. One is a relaxed lounge and bar, the other dining area with exposed kitchen, all looking out over untouched wilderness.

Sitting within the Linyanti Wilderness Reserve, a private concession, the camp is surrounded by a 1,250km² blend of dry grassland, mopane forest and glistening lagoons, home to a concentration of varied wildlife. Great herds of elephant, zebra and buffalo attract lion, leopard, cheetah and wild dog. The birding is excellent too and, being a private reserve, you can look forward to heading out after dark in search of nocturnal rarities.

As well as day and night game drives, the Linyanti Wilderness Reserve is a great spot for walking safaris and mokoro boat trips on the mosaic of lagoons and waterways that saturate the landscape. Camp owners, Beks and Sophia, have many years’ experience working in Zimbabwe and Botswana. Beks holds a Zimbabwean Professional Guides Licence, which combined with ample experience, makes him one of the best safari guides in the business. Their combined passion and knowledge filters through to their mostly Botswana camp staff, so expect to find knowledgeable and enthusiastic managers and guides here.

Our view

Opened in mid-2019, we have yet to check out Linyanti Expeditions for ourselves but as fans of African Bush Camp’s other camps and lodges across southern Africa (and in this reserve), we’re sure it shares the same authentic style, quality of guiding and singular focus on the safari experience.

Tracy Lederer

Country manager: Botswana

Geographics

Location: Kwando-Linyanti area, Botswana
Accessible by: Fly-and-Transfer

Food & drink

Usual board basis: Full Board & Activities

Children

Attitude towards children
Property’s age restrictions: Walking and mokoro activities are possible for children over the age of sixteen years, making this Linyanti safari ideal for families with older children.

Our travellers’ wildlife sightings from Linyanti Expeditions

Since mid-2018, many of our travellers who stayed at Linyanti Expeditions have kindly recorded their wildlife sightings and shared them with us. The results are below. Click an animal to see more, and here to see more on our methodology.