Linyanti Region

Linyanti Travel

Tips & Planning

Do all lodges offer both land and water activities?

Lodges along the Linyanti River and Savuti Channel offer both game drives and some form of river safari. Game viewing by boat is a seasonal activity, as it can only take place when water levels allow.

Most of these camps have small motorboats while others use a barge for slower-paced river cruising – often with a drink in hand. Either way this is a wonderfully relaxing activity and, while you won’t come across as many predators as you do on your game drives, you are certain to see an abundance of waterbirds along with the occasional pod of hippo or herd of elephant wading at the water’s edge.

If you stay further west in Linyanti’s Kwando concession you might not have the option of river safaris. Some of these camps focus purely on land-based activities with day drives and night drives in search of the region’s famous predators, as well as the option of walking safaris.

 

Linyanti or Savuti: Which should I choose?

Unlike Linyanti’s private concessions, the neighbouring Savuti Region forms part of Chobe National Park. This means that in Savuti your guide is not permitted to drive off-road, you cannot do activities such as night drives and walking safaris, and visitor numbers are generally higher. Which is not to say that you should skip the Savuti; far from it! This region has an excellent reputation for high-adrenaline game viewing and exceptional predator sightings.

 

Consider the weather

Linyanti’s winter season (May to August) is known for its sunny, warm days with temperatures averaging around 25 to 30˚C (77 to 86F). However, these numbers drop sharply when the sun goes down, especially in June and July when it frequently dips below freezing. If you are travelling at this time of year be sure to pack a jacket and warm hat for your early morning and evening game drives.

In the build up to the summer season (September to November) the heat and humidity increases. This is the hottest time of the year with temperatures frequently exceeding 40˚C (105F).

During the summer season (November to March) the temperatures remain high both day (around 38°C / 100F) and night (around 20°C / 68F). This is also when Linyanti gets its rain, usually in the form of cooling afternoon downpours or spectacular thundershowers.

WHEN TO GO?

MAY JUN JUL AUG SEPT OCT
Dry Winter Season, floodwaters from the Okavango Delta arrive, wildlife is drawn to this abundant water, elephants and all big predators are present.
NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR
Green Season, summer rains, plenty of wildlife, vegetation springs, impala and other antelope give birth, attracting the attention of the predators.
APR MAY JUN
Shoulder Season, summer rains come to an end, grasses still make for more challenging game viewing. General game: zebra, giraffe and buffalo.
LET’S PLAN YOUR TRIP TODAY GET IN TOUCH HERE

TOP EXPERIENCES

VARIOUS ACTIVITIES OFFERED IN THE LINYANTI

1. Go On A Game Drive

Game drives are conducted in open-sided 4×4 safari vehicles with tiered seats. Since you’re in a private reserve your guide is allowed to drive off road, getting you up close to Linyanti’s big game.

2. Cruise The River

Most riverside camps have small motorboats that easily manoeuvre amongst the bird-filled reed beds and get close to wildlife at the water’s edge. Others have larger barges for sunset cruises.

3. Drop A Line Overboard

Many Linyanti lodges have a small collection of rods and reels, and offer catch-and-release fishing when water levels allow. For more on where to reel in a tigerfish read our post on fishing in Botswana.

4. Go Bird Watching

Birding is spectacular all year round with Linyanti being recognised as an Important Bird Area (IBA) particularly for birds of prey like Dickinson’s kestrel and waterbirds.

5. Walk In The Wild

Set out on foot and feel a part of your wild surroundings as you learn about animal tracks, birds and plants. You’ll be in safe hands with your highly trained (and armed) guide.

6. Take A Night Drive

Once the sun has set your guide uses a spotlight to catch the glinting eyes of bush babies or pick out other nocturnal creatures such as porcupines, spring hares or a predators on the hunt.

7. Sit Back In a Mokoro

Lodges that offer water activities usually have canoes, a peaceful way to explore the waterways. For a true mokoro safari we recommend a few days at a lodge deep in the Okavango Delta.

8. Wildlife Hides

Kings Pool Camp has a submerged hide that puts you at eyelevel to the water of a pan & Savuti Camp’s hide is raised up on a platform and includes a bed for a night under the stars.

TAILORMADE SAFARIS

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Reviews

Above expectations

Excellent communications and service. We dealt with Sabrina and she is awesome. The safari tour was amazing, i can highly recommend going to Elephant Plains. Its a very special place run by awesome people.

Werner
A great tour operator that was a pleasure to deal with.

We used Safari Online to put together a mid-range Botswana trip for a group of four going to three different camps and then onto Vic Falls. We asked several operators to provide options (through this great safari bookings website) and Walter Kohrs from Safari Online was easily the most responsive and quickest to provide different but realistic options and at good prices. In the end it was a no brainer to go with Safari Online. Walter always responded to my queries quickly, with honest and valuable responses that were clear and made sense. From our perspective he tailored a good mix of places for both our budget and standard of facilities that suited us perfectly, with enough information and links to help us make our decisions. In the end each camp was different and had different aspects and strengths that made each unique. We loved it.

Shane
Excellent service and support for our Africa vacation

Working with Walter was a great experience. He listened to us and helped us build a vacation that exceeded all of our expectations. We really appreciated his professionalism and attention to detail.

Dan
Professional, patient, efficient and responsive. Met all our travel needs and requirements spot on

Communication was excellent – I asked A LOT of questions and did a ton of research myself and Walter was extremely patient with me and very responsive. he was straight forward and extremely professional.  Tour itself was excellent – an incredible experience and one never to be forgotten. Everything was spot on.

Neena
Karina was absolutely instrumental to our safari success.

Our experience with Safari Online was excellent. After becoming very frustrated trying to search for a safari destination on our own, we turned to Karina for help and she was a lifesaver. She responded to our requests promptly and gave us several options with links to each option; we ultimately chose Lukimbi. She then coordinated our flights to and from the property, arranged the drivers necessary to get us from the airport to the lodge and back again, and sent the appropriate paperwork to each of us to verify each step of the process. We had an amazing safari adventure at the lodge–the experience of a lifetime–and are so grateful for her help. We literally couldn’t have done it without her!

Chris
Perfect

We are six older but experienced travellers who usually do our own planning. Luck led us to Safari Online and Walter. His ideas proved spot on. Throughout our planning Safari Online have been helpful, always answering emailed questions, no matter how basic, straightaway. We’ve had probably our best ever holiday in years of travel, everything went smoothly. Pickups and transfers were on time. Staff in all the places we stayed were friendly and helpful. I can’t think of one adverse remark except maybe seeing a lion that wasn’t asleep, though I think if it could have been arranged Walter would have done so.

Jennifer
They kept us fully informed and updated throughout planning, travel, etc.

It was excellent all around. Everything worked out well. An experience of a lifetime! The game viewing rides were fun and very informative.

Karen