Selinda Reserve
The Selinda Reserve is one of Africa’s great wildlife reserves. Part of the Great Plains Conservation project, spearheaded by National Geographic photographers and filmmakers Derek and Beverley Joubert as well as ex-Wilderness safaris CEO Colin Bell. Selinda holds some serious gravitas within the industry and has some of the most luxurious accommodation in Africa. It is a fantastic place with great game-viewing – the only competition to Mombo within Botswana!
Selinda borders Linyanti to the East and the Kwando reserve to the North. All these areas effectively share the same great game, have very similar habitats and all offer expensive accommodation with exemplary service and guiding.
The Selinda Reserve however is slightly different. The Selinda spillway is a usually dry channel that connects the Linyanti river system to the Okavango. On the rare occasion that these channels connect, Selinda springs to life with a game density that is hard to beat anywhere – this has happened in 2009 and 2010 making Selinda the reserve of choice for the last two years. It is also different from a conservation point of view. When the new owners took over Selinda in 2006 the reserve was split between a small photographic area and the remainder was set aside for hunting. Hunting was stopped and conservation encouraged from the day that Great Plains took over. Selinda: Accommodation choices
Designed with the intention of providing competition to Mombo in terms of lodge design, Zarafa Camp is absolutely stunning. With only four rooms, it is also the smallest of Botswana’s camps and provides a level of accommodation that we have never before seen here. The slightly more affordable Selinda camp is also stunning, but slightly larger, with nine rooms. The Selinda Canoe Trail is an adventurous canoe based safari where guests stay in small dome tents put up each night. It is superb value considering the fact you are in a private reserve, but should not be confused with the luxury of the other camps in the reserve. Combining the trail with one of the camps is a great way to spend a week here.
Selinda: Time of year to travel
As with the majority of Botswana’s big game areas, the Selinda Reserve comes into its peak game viewing season from the 1st June with the very best months being late July, August, September, October and the beginning of November. The rains affect the game hugely here and the herds move out to better grazing when the first rains settle in. So the early months of the year are superb for birds and the beauty of Selinda is undeniable, but the grass is high and viewing what little game there is around can be difficult. It is not a good region for big game viewing outside peak season.
Selinda: Activities Game drives at day and at night as well as walking safaris are possible at all camps whilst the canoe trips are only possible from the Selinda Canoe Trail.
Recommended lodges in this area:
Selinda
Selinda is part the Great Plains Conservation group who have some other fantastic camps in the area and operate an incredible service
Selinda
Zarafa was once the fantastic no frills Zarafa but now the recent refurbishment of early 2008 and the new name have totally changed the camp……….in a good way! We always loved the no frills approach of ‘Zaf’ and so the private plunge pool approach took quite some getting used to.
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