| On safari-- wildlife and nature photos |
* | Safari country Click to enlarge |  |
Introducing the Linyanti
It has been one of Africa's best safari areas**, challenging such high profile wildernesses as the Serengeti and the Okavango Delta. Sandwiched between the delta and Namibia's Caprivi Strip, the Linyanti is a land of lions and other predators and huge herds of elephant and buffalo. It's also a land of contrast, from the paradise of the permanent waters of the Kwando & Linyanti Rivers and their lagoons to the parched back country of mopane woodland
**A cautionary note: In recent years, with a change of ownership, the accommodation emphasis of one of the Linyanti's safari concessions, Selinda, has moved from what I would call 'simple, intimate comfort' to 'ridiculous luxury'. Prices have moved accordingly. The hugely popular and small Zibalianja camp is no more, having been replaced in a new location by something more grand and far less environmentally sensitive. Such developments reinforce my belief that true wilderness is being lost forever. I came to this view a few years ago while observing tourists in African wilderness areas; I've since learned that 30 or more years ago, renowned African wildlife film-maker Alan Root beat me to it. Mark Seal, in his biography of Root's former wife Joan,
Wildflower, relates a newspaper interview in which
Root said that short of a miracle, wildlife and the world's wild places were doomed. In the face of the denials of apologists for over-the-top tourism development in the wild, I am both gratified and saddened to know that somebody as in tune with African wildlife as Alan Root agreed with me
Morning break on safari
Point to the small images for captions, click to enlarge
 | Selinda and Kwando are neighbouring private safari reserves. Selinda's artery is the Selinda spillway, connecting the Kwando/Linyanti to the delta's panhandle |  |
The spillway was mostly dry for two decades, but 2004 saw the start of big changes. Good rains in the Angolan highlands boosted the flow of the Okavango and Kwando Rivers into both ends of the spillway, and the water has continued to advance- possibly aided by tectonic activity. It has attracted growing numbers of elephant, as well as buffalo herds from the Kwando area
The wildlife of Kwando concentrates on the beautiful woodland and lagoons lining the river, while the focus of Selinda is on the spillway and Zibalianja lagoon, set in a world of floodplain grassland dotted with islands of ivory palms and other trees
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Walking at Selinda
The grasslands of the Linyanti region are ideal for walking safaris, though care still has to be taken when encountering dangerous animals
Next page, the Lions of Selinda. Go to the links below for my other African and Australian pages. Walking safari experiences are a feature of the Zimbabwe page
The Maplink on the left will show you where Selinda and Kwando are; the link on the right takes you to a map of Selinda itself. You'll need to click on the map to enlarge it and scroll to view it all
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