A rich private concession in the east of the Okavango.

Khwai Private Reserve is a 200 000 hectare private reserve positioned between the Chobe National Park and the Moremi Game Reserve.  The reserve thus benefits from the through-flow of  magnificent wildlife from those important and productive areas.  The Khwai Private Reserve also benefits from the Khwai riverfront which is a magnet and lifeline for game, although the northern expanse of the concession is a vast area of mopane woodland.  Mopane is not ideal for game viewing and the game activities will be concentrated in the south of the reserve near to the Khwai River.

The landscape varies from open grasslands to channels and waterways and the mopane hinterland.

The camps in the Khwai Private Reserve are operated by Natural Selection but, like NG 19, this is a community controlled area and so Natural Selection works in partnership with the Khwai Development Trust.

NG 18 was previously a hunting area.  Natural Selection is proud of the conservation success story it has created with its partners.  Within months of hunting stopping here, game returned and became much less nervous and it now offers a very rewarding wildlife experience.

Animals: Sable, impala, roan, kudu.  Large numbers of elephant traverse between the Moremi and Chobe National Park.  Big cats are present.  Wild dog are found in the area.  Hippos and crocodiles frequent the waterways.

Birds: Birdlife is excellent and varied: see the stunningly colourful lilac-breasted roller and numerous other species including both saddle-billed and marabou storks.  There are many more aquatic birds in the wet season as the concession has only a small area of the Khwai River in terms of permanent water.  Raptors are particularly numerous here.

Plantlife: Khwai Private Reserve has a range of flora from mopane forest to acacia, especially rather fine camel thorn and bands of riverine forest in the vicinity of the Khwai River which includes sausage tree, leadwood, sycamore fig, fever-berry and jackalberry. The waterways sport beautiful lilies on the slower flowing lagoons.

Best Months: The Okavango is in flood in the winter months in the second half of the year, June to December, so the waterways are at their best.  In the summer season migrant birds return from around the world to breed.  The rains begin in around November and end in April.  The concession springs to life in those months with bright green vegetation everywhere.  This can make game harder to see as wildlife spreads away from permanent water sources and is also sometimes hidden from view, but it is a beautiful time of year and wildlife is still plentiful.

Access:  An approximately 30 minute flight from Maun; driving in takes three to four hours.

Camps: Tuludi, Jackal and Hide, Hyena Pan, Khwai Sky Beds, Sable Alley