Linyanti Tented Camp is a small, classic-style camp that evokes memories of the earlier times in Botswana safaris.

The camp is situated in the 490-square-mile (1 270-sq-km) Linyanti concession, which borders the Chobe Game Reserve and offers day and night game drives, a wood-pile wildlife hide, and walking with a guide. The concession includes a range of habitats, including permanent and seasonal swamps, savanna grassland, seasonally flooded plains, riparian forest, and open woodland.

The game viewing at Linyanti Tented Camp (LTC) is excellent, particularly during the dry winter and early springtime (from July thru October). Large numbers of elephant remain in the area near the Linyanti River, which they visit twice daily to drink. Herds of red lechwe can be seen all year along the river and impala are abundant on the floodplains, followed by their primary predator, African wild dogs.

Other wildlife commonly seen from LTC includes zebra, giraffe, hippo, greater kudu, sable antelope, roan antelope, reedbuck, waterbuck, blue wildebeest, and warthog. Predators that are likely include lion, spotted hyena, leopard, black-backed jackal, African wild dog, and crocodile. The area is superb for birding, with a high density of raptors, grassland and woodland species, as well as water birds.

Linyanti Tented Camp is situated along the Linyanti River, overlooking a calm section of water that attracts plenty of wildlife, especially elephant. The camp is situated amongst the riparian trees lining the river bank.

Linyanti Tented Camp (LTC) consists of two camps (LTC East and LTC West) that are adjoined, with 4 Meru-style canvas tents at each camp. The camps are essentially identical and each is ideal for families or small groups traveling together. The camps may also be booked together as a single sole-use camp for larger groups.

The tents are connected by sandy pathways that lead to the main camp area. Each camp has a separate main area (situated back-to-back from one another) with a lounge and dining area, a pool and campfire area. The camps share a boma for outdoor dining nights.

The simple and rustic style of LTC is a throwback to a simpler time in the Botswana safari scene that may be relished by those who recall it.

Wilderness Safaris are one of Africa's leading safari operators and they strive to minimize energy consumption at all their camps. Linyanti Tented Camp is powered by diesel-powered generator, but uses solar-powered geysers to heat its water. Strict eco-friendly environmental standards are maintained so that no harmful chemicals or waste is allowed to enter the pristine ecosystem of the Linyanti Reserve.

the Northern Reserves (Linyanti, Kwando, Selinda)

Located directly to the north of the Okavango Delta are three superb wildlife reserves: the Linyanti, Selinda, and Kwando. All three 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.