Nkasa Island lies inside Nkasa Rupara National Park in Namibia’s Zambezi Region, and no other camp shares it. Elephants wade the channels; buffalo herds spread across the grass. Nkasa Linyanti opened here in May 2026, six raised tents on a private concession, looking out over floodplains fed by the Kwando and the Linyanti rivers.
Elephants wade the channels; buffalo herds spread across the grass.
Brent and Chantelle Cook first came to the island in 2019 and found its wildlife under heavy poaching pressure. What they built is a conservation project that also takes guests, and by 2025 elephant bull numbers had recovered and breeding herds had settled back into the area. Lion, leopard and spotted hyena hold the ground between the two rivers, and their calls carry over the water after dark.
Rain falling in Angola pushes water down the Kwando and the Linyanti through the middle of the year. The mokoro trails follow the papyrus channels while the water is high. As it falls back, vehicles reach islands submerged months earlier, and the game gathers on what remains dry. Mokoro, walking and driving safaris run from opening; motorboat trips join from September 2026.
The mokoro trails follow the papyrus channels while the water is high.
The six tents stand on wooden stilts under leadwood and sausage trees, canvas rolled up so the floodplain runs into the room. Woven baskets and cane chairs furnish them. A lounge, bar and dining terrace shelter beneath sweeps of canvas, with a pool over the grass and a firepit for after dark. Meals move outdoors under the trees or the stars. Solar power runs the camp, water treated on site.
430 bird species have been recorded across these wetlands, and the guides here will read a distant silhouette on an island and put a name to it. Wattled crane work the floodplain edges. Black crake pick their way through the reed stems, Hottentot teal feed across the shallow pans, and Pel’s fishing owl roosts in the riverine trees. The carmine bee-eaters come with the summer rains, when migrant numbers climb and the grasslands turn green.
Walking safaris bring the wetland detail up close, led by guides who read the ground, and the minimum age on foot is sixteen. Night drives in the private concession turn up spotted hyena most often, brown hyena occasionally. On the water, hippo pods hold the deeper channels and red lechwe move through the shallows, while spotted-necked otters, the smallest African otter, hunt the margins. Buffalo gather across these floodplains in some of Namibia’s largest concentrations. Sitatunga and puku are here too, both hard to find.
Buffalo gather across these floodplains in some of Namibia’s largest concentrations.
Nkasa Rupara covers roughly 30,000 hectares between the Kwando and the Linyanti, and the camp works alongside the neighbouring communal conservancies whose land carries the same wildlife. Elephants move through on a corridor linking Namibia, Botswana, Angola and Zambia, part of the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area. Keeping that corridor open depends on the conservancies bordering the park, and guests can visit nearby communities to see something of that relationship. Poaching pressure has fallen since 2019, under continued monitoring.
The journey here takes some planning, and rewards it. Flights run from Windhoek to Katima Mulilo, then a light aircraft to the Lianshulu airstrip, or a drive south by road; Kasane, in Botswana, works as an alternative arrival point. The final stretch from Sangwali is run as a game drive, so the arrival is already a safari. Children aged six and over are welcome, though sixteen is the minimum on foot. Evenings then run long around the fire, hyena calling somewhere out on the floodplain.
accommodation
Six tents at Nkasa Linyanti are raised on wooden stilts among leadwood and sausage trees, canvas walls opening wide to the floodplain beyond. Beds are draped in mosquito netting and each tent has its own timber deck. The bathrooms have a shower inside and a second one out in the open air under the trees.
activities
Game drives run day and night across the private concession and out into the wider national park. Mokoro excursions push into the reed channels while the flood is high, and motorboat trips join from September 2026. Walking safaris go out with armed guides, sixteen and over. Birding and visits to nearby communities fill the rest.
conservation
The BioBoundary Project tests plant-based airborne repellents that keep elephants off crops and away from village infrastructure. Wild Shots Outreach puts cameras in the hands of young adults from disadvantaged areas. Anti-poaching and monitoring teams work alongside the neighbouring communal conservancies whose land shares this wildlife corridor.
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.
There is no airstrip inside Nkasa Rupara, so the route is a flight to Katima Mulilo and then a drive of roughly 130 kilometres south west, on gravel that needs a proper four wheel drive. The camp arranges the road transfer, and we would always have you met rather than driving yourself in on the last leg.
Most people reach this corner of Namibia as part of a longer run east, from the Okavango or Victoria Falls, rather than out and back from Windhoek. It is a long way from the rest of the country, which is exactly why so few people are here.
Water, and everything that follows water. Nkasa Rupara is Namibia's largest protected wetland, and it holds what is reported to be the country's largest buffalo population, around a thousand animals, along with elephant, hippo, crocodile, lion, leopard and wild dog. Red lechwe and sitatunga, both antelope you will not see in the desert half of Namibia, are here because the floodplain suits them.
It is also one of the best bird places in the country, with around 430 species recorded. If the rest of your trip is Sossusvlei and Damaraland, this is the counterweight: green, wet and noisy, in a country most people picture as sand.
The local rains fall from about November to April, but the flood that shapes this place comes later and from somewhere else: rain in the Angolan highlands feeds the Kwando, and the water usually reaches the park between June and August.
At full flood a large part of Nkasa Rupara sits under water and much of it cannot be reached by vehicle, which is how the islands the camp stands on get their name.
That is not a reason to avoid those months, but it is a reason to ask what a stay will actually look like. Tell us your dates and we will tell you honestly what will be drivable, what will be by boat, and whether another month would serve you better.
Yes, and this is the highest rated part of Namibia. The UK's official travel health service rates the Zambezi region, along with Kavango East and West, as HIGH risk all year round, not seasonally, and recommends antimalarial tablets for it.
That is a different rating from Etosha or the desert, where risk is seasonal or very low. The American CDC also records transmission across northern Namibia. This is wetland, and the water is the reason.
We do not make medical recommendations, and we would not want to. We arrange travel; we are not doctors. Which tablets suit you, how they sit with anything else you take, and what is right for a child are questions for your own doctor or a travel clinic.
On the practical part, dusk is the hour that matters, so long sleeves, long trousers and repellent are worth the packing space.
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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.
