Kanana Nyana

By light aircraft from Maun to Kanana airstrip, which the camp shares with its sister camp, a flight of roughly twenty to thirty minutes, and then a short drive across the concession into camp; there is no road in from outside. The scheduled flights are seat-in-plane services in Cessna Caravans and similar bush aircraft, a seat-in flight can land at up to three other airstrips on the way, and your departure time is confirmed only the day before, so if the timing matters we can arrange a private charter, typically a Cessna Caravan or a Pilatus PC-12, direct to Kanana. From Kasane the flight takes around an hour and a half.

Luggage on every flight is twenty kilograms a person including hand luggage, in a soft bag with no wheels or frame, and larger cases can be left free of charge in Maun for the length of the safari. You are met at Maun airport and walked to the aircraft, and the departure tax on flights leaving Maun and Kasane is built into our quote.

Yes. The camp lies in the northern half of Botswana, which TravelHealthPro, the UK's official travel health service, rates as high risk for malaria from October to May, with antimalarial tablets among its recommendations for those months, and as low risk from June to September, when it advises awareness and bite avoidance. The CDC lists the Okavango and Ngamiland districts, where the concession sits, among the parts of the country for which it recommends prescription medicine to prevent malaria, and the camp's own guidance says the same.

We plan safaris rather than practise medicine, so what you do about it is a decision for you and your doctor or a travel clinic, checked near to departure because the advice moves. In camp, the floodplain below the suites brings mosquitoes at dusk, so long sleeves and trousers from sundown and repellent for the deck, the night drives and the sala at the end of the day are simply part of dressing for the evening.

From six upwards, but it is not built as a family camp, and that is worth understanding before you book. There is no family suite and no child rate: every suite is built for two, so a family of three needs two suites, a child is charged at the adult rate, and with only four suites a family of five or six is close to taking the whole camp, which is often the better way to do it.

For younger children the sister camp a short drive away has family accommodation, a child rate and the same concession, so tell us the ages and we will say which of the two fits. The Young Explorers guide, a specialist who works with the children on tracking, birds and the pole of a mokoro, can be booked for either camp, and a sleep-out deck for a night under the stars runs in the drier months for parties of up to four.

The year splits in two. Between November and March the rains come, mostly as brief, heavy afternoon storms that are most frequent in January and February, with warm nights, days in the low thirties and the floodplain green with new grass, newborn antelope and migrant birds. From April the rain stops and the flood arrives from Angola, filling the Xudum channels through the winter, when dawn on the deck can be close to six degrees before the day warms into the mid-twenties; September and October turn hot and dry, with afternoons up to forty and the water at its lowest.

Pack around the mornings rather than the afternoons: a warm, windproof jacket, gloves, a hat and a scarf between May and August, a light rain jacket between November and April, neutral colours, a wide-brimmed hat and strong sun protection for the middle of the day, closed shoes for the walks, and a swimsuit for the plunge pool on your deck. Twenty kilograms in a soft bag is the flight limit, hand luggage included, and the camp launders daily, so three or four changes of clothes is plenty.

For the water, June to September, when the flood has filled the Xudum channels and the mokoro, the boats and the trip to the heronry all run; for the game, July to October, when the floodplain dries back and the elephant herds and predators concentrate around what water is left, with October the hottest month of the year at up to forty degrees. On this concession the water usually stays too low for boats and mokoro from October through to May, though it varies with each year's flood, so if being on the water matters to you, tell us and we will check the level for your dates with the camp.

The green season from November to March has its own case: short afternoon storms rather than washed-out days, newborn animals, migrant birds and a strong predator showing, far fewer visitors, and rates well below the dry-season ones. Fishing is closed nationwide in January and February for the breeding season and runs from March to December when the water allows.

Three nights is the sensible minimum for a camp with this much to do, four if you want a sleep-out night or a full day out with a picnic. Stay five nights or more across this camp and its sister camps in the Delta and a long-stay discount applies, on condition that the flights between the camps are booked as part of the same package, which is how we book them. Each vehicle carries four, so a party of four has a vehicle and guide to themselves without paying a private-vehicle supplement, which this camp does not sell in any case.

The nightly rate is fully inclusive: the suite, all meals and snacks, house wines, local beers and spirits and soft drinks, the drives, walks and water activities with the camp's guides, daily laundry, park fees and taxes, and emergency evacuation cover to the nearest medical facility. Outside it are the flights in and out, imported wines, spirits and champagne, the scenic helicopter flights, a single supplement if you travel alone in the shoulder and high seasons, and a small nightly donation to the owners' community fund, which they match from their own profits; each of those appears as a line in the quote.