Places We Love: Beagle Expeditions Kweene Trails Camps

There is no better way to experience a true African Safari than in the comfort and privacy of your own exclusive mobile safari camp. A journey through the wilderness with the intimacy and flexibility of your own camp, guide, safari vehicle and staff compliment.

This unique Beagle Expedition is designed to explore one of Botswana’s last remaining remote wilderness areas, venturing into a region unexplored by most and providing their guests with a once in a lifetime experience of a completely different pace and tempo, one where our modern time constraints have no place.

The fundamental concept of each expedition is experience: from sleeping on the ground in grand comfort and watching Africa pass by while you attend to your ablutions, to pausing to celebrate each sunrise and sunset with a suitable drink in hand, to a complete emulsion into one of Africa’s last fully functional ecosystems on foot, on mokoro, in a helicopter and in custom built game drive vehicles.

Driven by the urge to get off the beaten track and explore some of Botswana’s lesser know gems, they designed a lightweight expedition style camp that does not compromise a few essentials of an exceptional safari: fabulously healthy and fresh food, ice for the perfect gin & tonic, a super comfy bedroll and hot water for a refreshing bucket shower. It will, however, bring you closer to nature and possibly even at eye level with a hyena!!

The Kweene Trails Experience

The Kweene Trails explores a wild and spectacular corner of the Okavango Delta! This exclusive area lies on a stretch of the Kweene River system adjacent to the Sandveld tongue in the Western Okavango Delta. What makes it most special for us is its remoteness, accessible only to Beagle guests, and only by helicopter.

Your journey starts along the Southern section of the Kweene River in the occasional swamp habitat at the Kweene River Camp, this area has a much more arid feel to the landscape. However, as the floodplains are inundated with water less frequently than that of the seasonal swamp, the grass species that dominate the floodplains are much more palatable and thus productive, supporting large herds of grazers and the predators that follow.

Next, your journey moves further North up the Kweene River system to Magwegwe camp, which is situated in the seasonal swamp habitat; here, the river receives water - normally - on a yearly basis with the inundation cycle of the annual Okavango flood dynamic. This section of the river is an exposé of exceptional Okavango Delta scenery and its wildlife; endless floodplains with well-wooded islands dotting the plains and all year round surface water drawing in an abundance of wildlife.

How do you get from one camp to the next?

In order to achieve this, you will pack your backpacks and picnic lunch and set out for a full day of adventure. Journey a distance of anything from 10 to 50 km, depending on the route travelled that day. Normally, it is a tranquil mokoro / walking trail, giving you a sense of age-old exploration as your heightened senses absorb a full day of wilderness sounds, smells and sights. However, based on the group dynamic, the presence of children and abilities of the individual members of the expedition, the trail may be replaced with a full day of exploration by game drive vehicle.

During this time, the Beagle Expeditions back up team breaks your first camp, packs up your tents and bedrolls, your bags and belongings, the kitchen and mess tent, the toilets and ablutions, and moves it all to your second camp, in time for your afternoon arrival, with enough light and time to get settled and appreciate the day's journey you have just undertaken. And that night, while you rest after your full and often tiring day, the first wilderness site begins its recovery and return to its natural state. Within just a few short days, your footprints disappear, as though you were never there; replaced by those of the elephant, impala and beetles that walk away your presence.

Accommodation at Beagle Expeditions Kweene Trails Camp

Catering for between 4 and 10 guests on an exclusive use basis only, this has to be one of the most appealing options of camps for guests looking to have unprecedented levels of privacy - not just in the camp but throughout an entire private concession. Here, your experience IS the luxury!

The camp setup is simple but luxurious! Whilst you may well be on an expedition, there are certain “luxuries” that we don’t need to trade off. The tents are spacious, 3m X 3m dome tents with ample lighting at night. Our bedrolls, laid out on the ground and made up with fine Egyptian cotton linen, are super comfy and warm, to provide the best sleeping experience. Tents are en-suite, each with its own private bucket shower (for hot showers) and a compost loo.

The main area is simple and yet comfortably charming. Comprising a dining table and camp chairs; a carpeted chill-corner scattered with cushions; a coffee and tea station; a bar with plenty of ice; and of course a fire at night and in the early morning! This is all set up by the backup team under the African sky and open to the surrounding wilderness and the wildlife that inhabits it.

Activities on Safari with Beagle Expeditions

Walking in unrivalled pristine walking country.

Because walking through pristine wilderness that has no sign of a human footprint remains one of Kweene's key ingredients, Beagle Expeditions have left a vast portion of the area inaccessible to any motorized transport. Here, they bring back the safari experience of old: walking through wildest Africa. The morning walking expeditions can be as long or as short, as intense or as modest, as your ability allows; they tailor make this at the time of your safari. However, as temperatures are much milder in the mornings and the duration of the morning activity generally longer, they prefer to conduct their walking safaris in the morning.

Mokoro Excursions when water levels permit.

Getting To Kweene Trails Camp

Your adventure quite literally begins form the moment you arrive in Maun. With no airstrip facilities in this pristine corner of the Abu concession, the only access into camp is by Helicopter.

Beagle Expeditions Kweene Trails Camp in A Nutshell

• Who should go: Beagle Expeditions is ideal for the traveller who is more focussed on the experience and exclusivity than having the bells and whistles of a luxury safari lodge. It is also ideal for families of all sizes and ages.
• When to go: Closed December, January, February and March. Kweene trails is without a doubt one of the most cost effective ways of exploring the Okavango Delta in the peak season (May to November).
• How to get there: Helicopter transfers in and out of camp from Maun or other camps.
• Suggested length of stay: In combining the two camps there is a minimum stay of 4 nights.
• Insider Tip: Be sure to include some time for scenic helicopter flights with the doors removed. Stopping for coffee on a remote island or alongside the floodwaters in pure wilderness is a once in a lifetime experience!