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Safari country  Click to enlarge

Introducing the Linyanti

It has been one of Africa's best safari areas**, challenging such high profile wildernesses as the Serengeti and the Okavango Delta. Sandwiched between the delta and Namibia's Caprivi Strip, the Linyanti is a land of lions and other predators and huge herds of elephant and buffalo. It's also a land of contrast, from the paradise of the permanent waters of the Kwando & Linyanti Rivers and their lagoons to the parched back country of mopane woodland

**A cautionary note: In recent years, with a change of ownership, the accommodation emphasis of one of the Linyanti's safari concessions, Selinda, has moved from what I would call 'simple, intimate comfort' to 'ridiculous luxury'. Prices have moved accordingly. The hugely popular and small Zibalianja camp is no more, having been replaced in a new location by something more grand and less environmentally sensitive. As well, reports I've seen suggest that wildlife viewing is not as spectacular as it was during most of our visits; though this may be a cyclical thing

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Morning break on safari

Point to the small images for captions, click to enlarge

Selinda and Kwando are neighbouring private safari reserves. Selinda's artery is the Selinda spillway, connecting the Kwando/Linyanti to the delta's panhandle

The spillway was mostly dry for two decades, but 2004 saw the start of big changes. Good rains in the Angolan highlands boosted the flow of the Okavango and Kwando Rivers into both ends of the spillway, and the water has continued to advance- possibly aided by tectonic activity. It has attracted growing numbers of elephant, as well as buffalo herds from the Kwando area

         

The wildlife of Kwando concentrates on the beautiful woodland and lagoons lining the river, while the focus of Selinda is on the spillway and Zibalianja lagoon, set in a world of floodplain grassland dotted with islands of ivory palms and other trees

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Walking at Selinda

    

The grasslands of the Linyanti region are ideal for walking safaris, though care still has to be taken when encountering dangerous animals

Next page, the Lions of Selinda. Go to the links below for my other African and Australian pages. Walking safari experiences are a feature of the Zimbabwe page

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The Maplink on the left will show you where Selinda and Kwando are; the link on the right takes you to a map of Selinda itself. You'll need to click on the map to enlarge it and scroll to view it all

Index of chapters Portfolio (5 pages) African slideshows Australian slideshow Guest photographer Spots 'n' blotches Browsers & grazers Okavango Delta Walking in Zimbabwe Zambia The Outback (3 pages) The River Murray Wildlife carers The Linyanti Cheetah brothers Selinda's birdlife Masai Mara Big cats Faces on safari The Adelaide Hills Aussie birds Niugini days Lions of Selinda Heavyweight herbivores Kwando Reserve Kenya:Samburu Elephants Kangaroo Island Victoria About Afrigalah Links

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©2000- 2009 Copyright photographs, graphics and text: John Milbank, except where otherwise denoted. Original Selinda map (modified for this site), courtesy Linyanti Explorations. The photographs preceded by * on this page were taken with a medium format camera, a Fuji GS645S Wide 60, using Velvia 100F and E100VS film. All but two of the others were taken with a Canon EOS 1n camera with 300/2.8 IS lens and Sensia 100 film. The palm island illuminated by the setting sun was photographed with an EOS 5 camera and 100-400 IS lens. Yvonne's photograph of the spillway was taken with an EOS1D Mark 2 with a 100-400 IS lens at 100mm