The Kays family have traded in Ngamiland for more than a century. In 1999 they built Kwetsani as one of the Jao Reserve’s first three camps, alongside Jao and Jacana. After 26 years, David and Cathy Kays rebuilt it from the ground up. It reopened on 1 June 2026, and now runs entirely on solar power.
Below the decks, red lechwe splash through the shallows.
Kwetsani Camp is a line of raised suites strung along a narrow palm island in the Jao Reserve, in the north-western Okavango Delta. Walkways thread through fig and mangosteen beneath the palms, and the decks face the sunrise across the open floodplain. Below the decks, red lechwe splash through the shallows. Out here the flood decides whether a morning starts in a boat or a vehicle.
At high water the floodplain in front of camp fills, and the day moves onto the water. Mokoro slip through the shallows while hippos hold the deeper channels. Birdlife crowds the reed margins and the treeline. Even at peak flood the game drives carry on, as boats run guests out to Hunda Island, a broad stretch of dry ground.
Mokoro slip through the shallows while hippos hold the deeper channels.
As the water drops in the drier months, the camp becomes a vehicle base again and the open plains come back into play. Lions, elephants and leopards work them. With a private vehicle and guide, a sighting can run as long as it holds. Between drives the hours go to guided walks and birding, or to catch-and-release fishing in a sheltered lagoon.
Six generations of Kays have made their home in Ngamiland, trading out of Tsau and Maun. The roots run deeper than commerce: the family’s own history records that both Ronald Kays and his son David were initiated into the Batawana. In 1998 the Kays family went into partnership with Katimpa Mogalakwe and won the tender for this concession, and the first guests arrived in July 1999. David and Cathy’s son Martin joined the business in 2005. Today the family run the reserve’s camps, Kwetsani among them, and hold the concession lease.
Tiffany Riley, David and Cathy’s daughter, led the interior design, and she took the palette from the Delta’s own light. Earthy tones set the base, with warmer accents drawn from the Delta’s skies. Timber and stone, canvas and woven reed carry the palette through each suite. The suites face the sunrise, and floor-to-ceiling glass keeps it in full view. The outdoor showers keep the same outlook, and a private deck extends each suite into the open air.
Hippos grunt from the channels, and somewhere across the plains a hyena calls.
Raised walkways lead from the suites to the rebuilt main area, where the bar and dining area open onto the floodplain beside the pool deck. Meals are served in dining spaces that look out over the floodplain. Dinner moves outdoors, beneath the trees or under the stars, on menus built from seasonal, local ingredients. After dark the island turns loud. Hippos grunt from the channels, and somewhere across the plains a hyena calls. High in the trees, baboons bark their alarm.
The Jao Reserve lies on the western edge of Moremi Game Reserve, and the family’s other camps on it include Jao, Jacana, Pelo and Tubu Tree. Sightings stay uncrowded, although at high water Hunda Island brings vehicles from more than one camp onto the same ground. This is water country first, and Kwetsani’s draw is its channels and birdlife, and a view that changes with the flood. From the air, scenic helicopter flights trace the channels and islands of this corner of Botswana.
accommodation
Kwetsani Camp has five raised suites and one family suite of two en-suite bedrooms, all built in canvas, timber and glass and linked by walkways. Each suite has a lounge, an en-suite bathroom with an outdoor shower and a private deck facing the floodplain. The camp also has a pool.
activities
Game drives run in open vehicles, with private vehicles and guides on offer, and at peak flood boats carry guests to Hunda Island for drives. When water levels allow there are mokoro trips and boat cruises. Catch-and-release fishing in a sheltered lagoon, guided walks, birding and scenic helicopter flights complete the list.
conservation
The rebuilt camp runs fully on solar power, and it supports the neighbouring Jao village with food parcels, clothing and help for the elderly. The Kays family run the reserve and hold the concession lease. Across the reserve's 60,000 hectares, which border Moremi Game Reserve, the family count the wildlife from the air each year.
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.
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By light aircraft from Maun to the Jao airstrip in the north-west of the Okavango Delta, then the last stretch to camp by road through the reserve or, when the floods are high, by boat across the floodplain. Small aircraft also link the Delta's camps with one another, so Kwetsani can follow another Delta camp directly instead of a return to Maun.
For your own timetable, we can book a private charter from Maun straight into the Jao airstrip: a Cessna Grand Caravan EX takes up to eleven passengers, and a GA-8 Airvan of five seats suits a couple or a small family. Bring soft bags rather than hard cases, kept to twenty kilograms a person with hand luggage counted in.
Yes. Kwetsani sits in the Okavango Delta, which TravelHealthPro, the UK's official travel health service, places in the high-risk zone for malaria from October to May, when it recommends antimalarial tablets, and in the low-risk zone for the rest of the year. Low risk is not no risk. The American CDC includes the Okavango and Ngamiland districts among the areas where it advises medicine to prevent malaria.
We plan travel and are not medical professionals, so we make no recommendation on tablets; that choice is yours to make with your own doctor or a travel clinic. What helps in camp is simple: long sleeves and trousers from late afternoon, and repellent on exposed skin after dark.
Plenty, because the camp works on water as well as on land, and the balance shifts with the flood. When the channels are full there are mokoro trips in traditional poled canoes, motorboat outings and catch-and-release fishing in a sheltered lagoon. At peak flood, boats carry guests across to Hunda Island, the largest stretch of dry ground in the reserve, for game drives there.
Guided walks go out on foot with a guide, never alone, and the birding along the waterways is a reason to come in itself. A scenic helicopter flight shows the pattern of channels and islands from above, and a mobile spa can come to camp at extra cost. We check the water levels for your dates before promising any boat or mokoro trip.
Kwetsani is run by the Kays family, a Maun family who hold the lease on the Jao Reserve, a private concession in the north-western Okavango Delta on the western edge of Moremi Game Reserve. They built Kwetsani in 1999 as one of the reserve's first three camps, and the original treehouse-style camp stood for twenty-six years.
David and Cathy Kays then rebuilt it from the ground up, and it reopened on 1 June 2026, with interiors by their daughter Tiffany Riley and the whole camp running on solar power. The reserve is shared only with the family's other camps, Jao, Jacana, Tubu Tree, Little Tubu and Pelo, so the floodplains around Kwetsani are not shared with outside vehicles.
Yes. Besides the five suites, Kwetsani has a family suite with two en-suite bedrooms, so parents and children sleep under one roof. Private guides and private game drives can be arranged, and for a family with younger children we would build one into the stay, because the day then runs at the children's pace rather than a shared vehicle's.
The suites stand raised on wooden walkways above the floodplain and there is a swimming pool, so small children need a watchful adult nearby. Water trips depend on the flood and on each child's age, so tell us the ages when you enquire and we will agree with the camp which activities suit each of them.
June to October, the dry season, when the game gathers on the permanent water and thinner bush makes predators easier to find. July to September are the standout months, with cold dawns that call for warm layers in an open vehicle, and October is the hottest month. April, May and November are good months either side. At Kwetsani the dry winter is also when the flood fills the channels, so mokoro and boat trips are at their best.
December to March is the green season, wetter and quieter, with the game more spread out. It has its own rewards: the summer migrant birds are in, young antelope are on the ground, and storm light over green floodplains suits photographers, with fewer vehicles about.
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our approach
Every journey starts with a conversation. We take the time to understand your vision before we start planning.
Whether by phone or in person, we work with you directly to shape something that is considered, personal, and expertly delivered.
