Selinda Spillway

The Selinda is an eighty-kilometre channel connecting the northern Okavango with the Linyanti system, and for most of the twentieth century it did not flow at all. When Okavango floods are high enough it runs, sometimes from both ends towards the middle, and the country either side changes with it. The concession over it is large, lightly used, and known for wild dog, large lion prides and buffalo herds, with canoeing possible on the channel when the water is up.

The landscape

• The spillway - an eighty-kilometre channel that runs only in high-water years.
• The wild dogs - packs that use the concession heavily, with denning in season.
• The buffalo herds - large herds moving along the floodplain.
• The canoe trail - a multi-day paddle down the channel when the water allows.

When to go

May to October is the dry season and the main safari window. Whether the channel flows depends on the Okavango flood and varies year to year. The canoe trail only runs when water levels permit.

Good to know

Whether there is water at all is genuinely unpredictable and the channel has been dry for long periods. Access is by air into a private concession and costs are high. Self-drive is not an option for most of the area.

Nearby

The Linyanti is northeast, and the Okavango panhandle is west.