Selinda Explorers Camp stands on the banks of the Selinda Spillway, deep in the 130,000-hectare private Selinda Reserve in northern Botswana. Getting there is part of the unwinding: a light aircraft carries you to an airstrip in the reserve, roughly forty-five minutes from Maun or fifty from Kasane, and a game drive of similar length brings you the rest of the way. Four canvas tents shelter under African ebony and mopane, right on the spillway’s edge and set well away from the reserve’s other properties.
Four canvas tents shelter under African ebony and mopane
Walking is the whole point here. Where most camps in the Delta and Linyanti build the day around a vehicle, this one puts you on foot, led by armed and trained guides who read tracks, dung and birdsong at a pace that lets the smaller detail of the bush come into focus. And when the spillway runs deep enough, two-person Canadian-style canoes replace the walk for the stretch of route back to camp.
The camp is the work of Dereck and Beverly Joubert, whose Explorer Collection grew out of the years these National Geographic filmmakers spent exploring this stretch of the Selinda Reserve, time on the ground that decided exactly where the tents would sit. Four of them keep the whole operation intimate and sleep up to ten guests, three standard tents for two and one two-bedroom family tent. The reputation rests on the quality of the walking guides, not on scale.
Two open-fronted communal tents divide the lounge from the dining area
Interiors hold to a campaign aesthetic, recycled hardwood furniture set beside brass and copper fixtures, vintage kilims and soft furnishings brought from Zanzibar. Two open-fronted communal tents divide the lounge from the dining area, both furnished with floor cushions and trunk-style tables and lit by lantern once the sun drops. Meals come from a bush kitchen, cooked over open fire and served at a communal table, with picnics carried out to those who spend the day in the field.
The Selinda Reserve runs between the Okavango Delta and the Linyanti wetlands, and the spillway threads through its centre as an ephemeral channel, sometimes a dry bed, sometimes a flowing river, depending on how far the annual floodwaters reach. That variability sets the rhythm of a stay. When the spillway carries water, canoeing opens up and birdlife concentrates along its banks. When it dries, walking and driving cover the same ground on foot and by 4×4, and the days shift with the season.
This is dense predator country, where lions, leopards and cheetahs turn up regularly on walks and drives, and where a strong population of African wild dogs makes this one of the more reliable places in Botswana to track the species on foot. At the peak of the dry season the elephants gather, more than 9,000 moving through the reserve, and the plains fill out with buffalo and giraffe, with eland, roan and sable among the antelope.
When the spillway carries water, canoeing opens up and birdlife concentrates along its banks
Because the reserve is privately held rather than a public park, the days can hold what a national park would not permit: night drives, off-road tracking, walking safaris. Around them come catch-and-release fishing on the spillway, birdwatching and astronomy under dark skies, and helicopters that open up ground far beyond an ordinary reach. A Young Explorers programme adapts it all for children, so the walking and canoeing carry down a generation.
The camp holds to its expedition character throughout. Each tent stands on a wooden platform with a private veranda facing the spillway, and inside the campaign spirit continues, vintage kilims underfoot, trunk-style bedside tables and a reading lantern within reach, a writing desk for the day’s notes and a standing fan turning against the heat, while the bathroom offers twin copper basins, a walk-in rain shower and a flush toilet. Beyond the tents, the two open-fronted communal tents divide the lounge from the dining and bar area, and the operation stays light on the land, favouring the experiential detail over heavyweight infrastructure.
accommodation
Four Meru-style canvas tents stand on raised wooden platforms, three standard tents for up to two guests each and one two-bedroom family tent. Each opens onto a private veranda facing the spillway, furnished in campaign style, with an en-suite bathroom that holds a flush toilet, copper basins and a walk-in rain shower.
activities
Guided walking safaris, led by armed and trained guides, are the defining activity, joined in season by canoeing on the Selinda Spillway when water levels allow. The days also make room for game drives by day and night, catch-and-release fishing, birdwatching, astronomy sessions and helicopter flights, with the private Selinda Reserve permitting activities that national parks typically restrict.
conservation
Selinda Explorers Camp sits within the privately managed Selinda Reserve, run with a low-footprint design that limits its infrastructure on the landscape. Community and conservation programmes operate across the wider reserve, including training initiatives for young people and adults from communities bordering the Okavango Delta, though specific projects based at this camp were not independently confirmed.
Get in touch and let’s start the conversation. An initial consultation helps us understand what you’re looking for, whether that’s specific experiences, luxury touches, or marking a special occasion, and from there we’ll guide you through what’s possible so you can decide if we’re the right fit.
By light aircraft to the Selinda Reserve airstrip, about 45 minutes from Maun or 50 from Kasane, then a game drive of similar length to the camp on the Selinda Spillway. We plan the routing around the rest of your trip and set the flights up for you.
Charters are shared and confirmed the day before, and bags need to be soft-sided and around 20kg. If you would rather fly on your own timings, we can arrange a private charter, typically a Cessna Caravan or Pilatus PC-12, timed to your international arrival or flown direct to the Selinda strip. This is a small walking camp of four tents, well away from the reserve's other properties, so it stays quiet.
Yes, Selinda is part of northern Botswana and carries a seasonal malaria risk, so it is not malaria-free. The risk is lowest in the dry winter months from June to October and higher during the wet summer.
Because guidance shifts year to year, please confirm the current advice with a travel clinic or your doctor before you travel. On a walking camp you are out in the bush a good deal, so cover up at dawn and dusk and use repellent.
The dry season from June to October is when Selinda is at its best, as animals concentrate on the spillway and the Linyanti channels and the reserve's wild dogs den, making repeat sightings of a pack possible. July to September is the sweet spot; October is the most concentrated but also the hottest.
For a walking-led stay in particular, the cooler, drier winter months are the most comfortable on foot. The green summer from November brings migrant birds and newborn antelope, though the going underfoot changes as the rains arrive.
Winter days are warm, in the mid-twenties, with cold starts that can approach freezing before dawn on a walk or an early drive. Pack proper layers: a fleece and windproof top, a hat and gloves for first light, lighter clothing for the day. October turns hot ahead of the rains.
Because this camp puts you on foot, add comfortable, closed walking shoes and neutral, quiet clothing. Bring sun protection all year, and a light waterproof for the summer months.
It can work for families with older children. The camp takes children from around age six and has a two-bedroom family tent, but the days are built around walking safaris, which have their own minimum age, so it tends to suit families whose children are old enough to walk and canoe.
Tell us the ages when you enquire and we will confirm what the guides can offer, and whether a more drive-focused camp might suit younger children better.
There is wifi in each tent, but it is low-bandwidth and not guaranteed, enough for a text email or a message home rather than anything more. There is no mobile phone signal in the reserve, and the camp keeps a satellite phone and radio for emergencies.
The main areas are deliberately kept free of screens, which fits a camp whose whole point is being out on foot and unplugged.
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our approach
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Whether by phone or in person, we work with you directly to shape something that is considered, personal, and expertly delivered.
