Sable Alley

predator patrol with Khwai’s own rangers

Sable Alley sits on the edge of a lily-covered lagoon connected to the Khwai River, within the Khwai Private Reserve in the north east of the Okavango Delta.

The camp is independently owned and sits within the Natural Selection portfolio, one of a portfolio we have worked with closely for years. The Khwai Private Reserve itself operates as a joint venture with the Khwai Village community, so a stay here contributes directly to local projects, from early childhood education to a wildlife ranger programme.

Khwai Private Reserve covers around 200,000 hectares of varied habitat, from mopane woodland and riverine forest to open floodplains and seasonal waterholes, fed by the Khwai River.

The main area is a lofty, thatched space raised on a wooden deck and open at the front to the lagoon view, with a lounge, dining areas, a well-stocked bar and a firepit reached by a short flight of steps. A swimming pool sits to one side, also looking out over the water. Long sandy paths, elevated where the camp is raised on decking, connect the main area to the guest suites.

Rooms

Guest accommodation at Sable Alley is in 12 canvas-walled, timber-framed suites raised on stilts. Floor-to-ceiling mesh doors slide open onto a private veranda, and each suite has an en-suite bathroom with twin basins and both an indoor and an outdoor shower.

Honeymoon Tent : x1 : positioned furthest from the main area for privacy, with an additional bath

Tented Suite : x9 : twin or double bed configuration, en-suite bathroom with twin basins and indoor and outdoor shower, private veranda

Family Tent : x2 pairs : two adjoining tented suites linked by a shared veranda, not interconnecting.

Activities

Sable Alley provides the following guided activities …

• Vehicle safari
• Night vehicle safari
• Mokoro canoe safari (Jun-Sep)
• Motorboat safari (May-Oct)
• Walking safari
• Predator patrol, with Khwai Private Reserve rangers
• Skybeds sleepout, at the sister fly-camp (additional fee)
• Helicopter flight (additional fee)

Wildlife in front of camp is the starting point here: the lagoon holds a resident hippo pod, and elephant and buffalo come down to drink within sight of the pool and main deck.

Beyond camp, sightings of lion, leopard, cheetah and wild dog have all improved in recent years as the reserve settles into its life as a photographic destination rather than a hunting concession.

The predator patrol, run alongside the reserve’s own rangers before dawn, is a genuinely different way to spend a morning, and the option to add a night at Skybeds, a tiny three-chalet sister camp built for sleeping out under the stars, is a distinctive extension for guests who want it.

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 drive of around 15 minutes, 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.

usually combined with at least one other camp in Okavango