Kings Pool

Here are three main features of the Linyanti Concession: the Linyanti River, the woodlands of the interior and the well-known Savute Channel, famous as a sporadic and unusual watercourse. Between 1980 and 2008 the channel ceased to flow and much of the area was an open grassland, home to a wide variety of animals. During 2008, the Savute Channel flowed once more, creating a water source that rapidly filled with aquatic life, wide varieties of waterbirds and hippo. With two-thirds of the channel located within the Linyanti Concession, Kings Pool Camp guests have private and exclusive access to its abundant game.

The Linyanti Concession now features floodplains, woodlands, grasslands, palm islands and scrub vegetation and one of the highest dry season concentrations of elephant in Botswana, with numbers reaching several thousand at times. This phenomenon is one of the main attractions of Kings Pool Camp, but the area is also recognised for its predators, providing an integral stronghold for species like the critically endangered wild dog, as well as lion, cheetah and spotted hyaena. Viewing the roan antelope in the area is equally thrilling. Many birds of prey and seasonal zebra congregations can also be seen in the cathedral-like woodland of mature mopane trees.

Other plains wildlife includes red lechwe, Burchell’s zebra, blue wildebeest, impala, common waterbuck, sable, eland, southern giraffe, chacma baboon, vervet monkey, warthog, hippo and Cape buffalo. Nocturnal species often seen are the lesser bushbaby, spring hare, aardwolf, serval, large spotted genet and, if you are extremely lucky, the elusive pangolin!

Birding is outstanding at Kings Pool Camp: with the Linyanti Concession an internationally recognised Important Bird Area (IBA). Sightings range from Okavango specials, like the Slaty Egret, Hartlaub’s Babbler, African Skimmer, Allen’s Gallinule and Wattled Crane, to the drier mopane woodland species like Racket-tailed Roller, Bradfield’s Hornbill, White-breasted Cuckoo-shrike, Bennett’s Woodpecker, Swallow-tailed Bee-eater and Arnott’s Chat. Also on display are the Kori Bustard, Ostrich, Secretarybird, and Ground Hornbill with Southern Carmine Bee-eaters in summer. High concentrations of birds of prey and raptors like eagles and Dickenson’s Kestrel can also be expected. There are also various owl species in the region, such as Verreaux’s (Giant) Eagle-Owl and African Scops-Owl.