Selinda Reserve

The Selinda Reserve covers about 1 350km², including a large section of the famous Selinda Spillway (also sometimes known as the Magwegqana Spillway), which is the ancient waterway linking the Okavango and Kwando-Linyanti River drainage systems. A private wildlife sanctuary in the Northern part of Botswana, Selinda is unique as the accommodation caters for a maximum of 32 guests at any time.

General

The Selinda Reserve is beautiful and varied - wide dry grasslands dotted with small 'islands' of palm forest cover the area as far as the eye can see. It's a picturesque, open environment and guests can spot game a long way off. It's perfect for following predators like wild dogs. Game-rich floodplains and the famous Zibalianja Lagoon offer the guest excellent game sightings.

Birdlife in the region is plentiful, with over 300 species recorded. The Selinda supports a variety of habitats, ranging from open plains to forests of palms, ancient baobabs and woodlands of leadwood and mopane - a favourite hideaway for elephants.

Travel Access

The Selinda Reserve is mostly accessed by aircraft. There is an airstrip situated between the Selinda and Zarafa Camps. The flight takes approximately one hour from Maun or from Kasane. Selinda is accessible by vehicle, but due to most travellers flying into the camps, the tracks are not used often and can be sandy.

Seasons and Best Time to Visit

The Selinda area is very similar to the Linyanti and Kwando areas, whereby the populaton of resident game moves in from June onwards to the permanent waters of Zibadianja Lagoon and the "Kwando-Linyanti" River system. Best time to visit is during the late dry season from July up until end of October.

The rainy season is during the summer months from November to April. During this time the humidity and heat is high. These conditions are conducive to mosquitoes breeding.
The dry season is between May to October. During these months, the surface water subsides and the wildlife tend to congregate along the river. The month of October is the hottest month of the year, with temperatures reaching late 30’s to high 40 degrees Celsius.

Wildlife

Selinda is famous for elephant and lions, wild dogs and hippos, buffalo and giraffe. The hippo-killing lions of the Selinda are part of what has made this region famous by Dereck and Beverly Joubert in their National Geographic films and books from the Selinda area, (Ultimate Enemies, Hunting with the Moon, The African Diaries). The open plains are an ideal habitat for cheetah and the thicker woodlands good for leopard.

One of Africa's most endangered predators, the Wild Dog, is usually resident and the ‘Selinda’ pack frequently dens in close proximity to the camps.
Other common species include: buffalo (that sometimes congregate in huge herds numbering many thousand), giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, hippo, hyena, waterbuck, kudu, steenbuck, lechwe and impala. At night there is a chance to see the more nocturnal species like civet, serval, wild cats, springhares, aardvark and aardwolf.

Most of the birds typical to the riparian woodlands in the neighbouring Linyanti and Kwando areas, also occur in the tree islands of Selinda. The Selinda Reserve is noted for good sightings of collard palm thrush, plus species of the open grasslands like ostriches, secretary birds, kori bustards, red-crested korhaans and various sandgrouse. The family of coursers is well represented here, with the uncommon bronze-winged and three-banded varieties occurring as well as the more widespread Temminck’s and double-banded coursers. During the summer months, flocks of Abdim’s and white storks can be seen, whilst raptor concentrations are always good.