Linyanti Ebony Camp is a small and intimate camp located in a private concession along the Linyanti River with excellent dry-season wildlife viewing and priced to be affordable compared to most camps in the region.

Linyanti Ebony Camp, along with its sister camp, Linyanti Bush Camp, are located on the northern boundary of Botswana in a large private area within the Chobe Enclave, which borders the western reaches of Chobe National Park.

The area around the camp offers good wildlife viewing all year, but is best during the dry seasons months from June thru October, when the Linyanti River, which both camps overlook, attracts a great number and diversity of mammals and birds that come to drink at the only source of fresh water for many miles.

The Linyanti River, which becomes more of a wetland than a flowing river during the dry season, is the focal point for the camp and the wildlife activities offered. Guests may choose from a variety of activities, including game drives in customized, open-sided Land Cruisers, water-based excursions on the traditional 'mokoro' (a long canoe propelled by a 'poler' guide who stands at the rear), nature walks, and scenic helicopter flights to see the area from above.

The camp offers just 4, Meru-style, safari tents that are simple and not over-the-top like so many camps nowadays in northern Botswana, but offer all the comfort and amenities that most travelers desire, which keeps the price reasonable and maximizes the value of the experience. One of the tents has two bedrooms and is ideal for a family with two children.

The guest tents offer comfortable beds (twin or double setup), an outdoor veranda overlooking the river/wetland, and fully-plumbed facilities with hot-and-cold-water shower, wash basin, and flush toilet.

The main guest area includes a wood-and-canvas structure that comprises a comfortable lounge, a dining area, bar, and coffee/tea station. A front deck offers a space for outdoor dining and watching for wildlife at the river.

A relaxing plunge pool and sun deck is located adjacent to the lounge and offers a great way to spend some of the midday hours between safari activities. The outdoor area is frequently used for dinners under the stars or just for evening drinks around the campfire.

The camp operates primarily on solar energy, but a generator provides a backup power source and there is 24-hour electricity in the guest tents and the main area.

Linyanti Ebony Camp is owned and operated by African Bush Camps (ABC), a company founded by a professional African safari guide, who has a passion for protecting remote spaces and the wildlife that lives there.

African Bush Camps owns safari camps in Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Zambia. The ABC camps are fully sustainable, with minimal impact on the environment. The African Bush Camps Foundation runs local projects that empower the local communities wherever they operate safari camps. The company's aim is to conserve and preserve wildlife and natural areas in Southern Africa.

the Northern Reserves (Linyanti, Kwando, Selinda)

Located directly to the north of the Okavango Delta are several superb wildlife reserves: the Linyanti, Selinda, Kwando, and the Linyanti concession of the Chobe Enclave. All of these reserves offer superb game viewing in huge wilderness areas with very low tourist numbers. Each of the reserves has a number of safari camps and they all pair superbly with a visit to one more more camps in the Okavango. Daily charter flights are available from any of the camps in the Okavango Delta or elsewhere in northern Botswana.

Similar to the Okavango Delta, the northern reserves receive water from rivers fed by rains in northern Angola, the amount varying year to year. The Kwando River forms the border between Botswana and Namibia, and much like the Okavango River further west, it also empties into a trough of Kalahari sand, creating the Linyanti Swamp, a much smaller version of the Okavango Delta. The Linyanti Swamp empties eastward into the Linyanti River, which becomes the Chobe River further to the east.

In some years, and usually in multi-year cycles, the rain water flowing down the Kwando River is sufficient enough to cause the Linyanti Swamp to overflow to the south, where it may flow east into the Savuti Channel or southwest into the Selinda Spillway. The Savuti Channel empties into the Savute Marsh in Chobe National Park. The Selinda Spillway flows back into the northern part of the Okavango Delta.

Both of these waterways have historically gone through long periods of total dryness, becoming rich grasslands, and then suddenly flowing with water again, bringing rich sediments and new water along their courses. Like the Okavango, water flows are dynamic over time, with rains in the Angolan highlands and tectonic movements far beneath the surface of northern Botswana affecting the quantity and direction of the water in these river systems.

Away from the major rivers in the northern portion of these reserves, the southern portion of the northern reserves is dominated by dry woodland, consisting of Kalahari apple-leaf bush, mopane trees and Acacia trees on deep Kalahari sand. Elephants wander through as they travel between the Okavango and the northern rivers, and there are impala, greater kudu, roan antelope, sable antelope, but this area is mostly not used for safaris, with the safari camps located along the waterways to the north.

Wildlife viewing along the waterways in the northern reserves is outstanding, particularly between July and late October, when the bush is dry and the animals stay close to the permanent water. Elephants gather in large numbers at this time and head to the waterways to drink twice daily, sometimes swimming and playing in the deeper water. Herds of buffalo, zebra, and impala are also present in good numbers. Other herbivores include include greater kudu, giraffe, red lechwe, tsessebe, waterbuck, blue wildebeest, and warthog.

Common predators include lion, leopard, spotted hyena, black-backed jackal, and African wild dog. The northern reserves are one of the best places in Africa to see the wild dogs, which have their young around June each year, the pups are truly something to see if you get lucky. Cheetah are here in modest numbers and can be seen in the open grassland areas. Hippo and crocodile are abundant in the Kwando, Linyanti, and Chobe Rivers, as well as in the Linyanti Swamp area. Chacma baboon and vervet monkey are found in the riparian forests.

Birding in the northern reserves is outstanding, with a diverse mix of grassland, woodland, raptors, and water species found. A typical safari day can easily produce 100 species.