Khwai Skybeds

likely to be the most memorable night of your safari

Khwai Skybeds is located in the Khwai Concession in the Okavango Delta area of northern Botswana.

The camp is centred on a simple table and chairs, alongside a campfire. There is a modest kitchen area behind a bush.

Guest accommodation is in three skybeds, with beds on the upper deck and a bathroom below. The beds are fitted with canopies that can be pulled up in case of rain and provide insect protection if needed.

Sundowner drinks are usually served in one of the skybeds prior to dinner.

The camp naturally has a very intimate atmosphere, since it is just you, your guide and a cook who prepares meals on the fire in front of you. It is such a luxury to spend time with staff in this way, we certainly enjoy it a whole lot more than the big slap-up bush meals that they prepare in larger and more upmarket camps. In fact we have almost died laughing here.

Wildlife in camp

This camp is all about animals coming into camp.

Although you may get a trickle of sightings down at the waterhole during the day, it is once you have all gone to bed that the fun usually starts, with huge bull elephants gently rumbling their way between the skybeds on their way down to drink. A supporting cast often includes predators, with lions roaring and hyenas laughing their way through the night.

We really love this experience.

When it comes to trip shapes and durations in Botswana, most visitors combine 2, 3 or 4 lodges by light aircraft over 6-12 nights, one or two of which will usually be here in Okavango Delta, combined with the Linyanti Waterfront and/or Makgadikgadi areas.

These trips are often done in combination with further nights at the Victoria Falls and/or down in the Cape.

The usual stay duration in the Khwai River area is 3-6 nights.

Seasonality

The Khwai River Concession can be visited year round, but wildlife viewing is most reliable during the May-Oct dry season months.

The May-Jun flood season is a period of transition from the hot wet summer to the cool dry winter and is generally considered to be a great time to visit. Temperatures can drop towards freezing during the night, but this has little adverse effect on safari, there are virtually no insects and plenty of baby animals around. The flood in this eastern part of the delta is usually late, unreliable and relatively light, meaning that the camps remain primarily focused on land-based safari during this period. For this reason the area is commonly combined with another wetter concession for boating activities.

The Jul-Sep dry season is the classic time to visit and is generally considered to be the best time for wildlife viewing, as many animals are drawn to the floods which have reached their peak.

The more southerly camps on the Khwai River Concession are able to offer some limited mokoro canoe safari and motorboat safari at this time, although less so in September.

The Oct-Dec hot season is the transition period between the peak of the dry season, when temperatures and humidities can become uncomfortably high in advance of the rains. When the rains do arrive, the animals can disperse suddenly into the vast mopane forests in the north and become much more difficult to access.

Jan-Apr is the main green season in the Okavango Delta, when the area experiences the majority of its rainfall. There are lots of baby animals around and the landscapes are green and beautiful. Conditions prove dramatically through these months, making late March and the whole of April particularly attractive, especially given the often dramatically discounted prices.

Getting there

The camps in the Khwai River Concession are usually by light aircraft into the local bush airstrip, which has daily flight connections with all other camps in Okavango, Linyanti, the main airport at Maun (for connections to Central Kalahari, Nxai, Makgadikgadi and Johannesburg) and north to Kasane (for connections to Livingstone and Victoria Falls).

From the airstrip it is a considerable drive, largely through dense mopane forest, to reach the camp.

Unusually, this area can also be reached by vehicle from Maun in 3-4 hours, which can save a great deal of money, especially for larger groups.

always combined with at least one other camp on this concession