King’s Pool

• Located in the Linyanti Wildlife Reserve, northern Botswana, overlooking the oxbow-shaped King’s Pool Lagoon and the Linyanti River
• Named after Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf, who honeymooned in the Linyanti in the 1970s
• 8 thatch-and-canvas suites, raised on wooden platforms, each with lounge, bedroom, deck, private pool, sala and sun loungers
• Landscape mixes open grasslands, riverine forest, mixed woodlands, and the dry Savuti Channel
• Known for very large elephant densities, especially in dry winter months
• Fully solar-powered; camp has a sitting room, pub, dining area, viewing deck with pool, and an open-air boma

King’s Pool sits in a slightly trickier spot than most of my favorite camps — the upper Savuti/Linyanti system is stunning, and the camp itself is luxurious, with private plunge pools and raised suites overlooking the lagoon. But the game viewing there is more seasonal than people expect. I visited king’s Pool once in March and was astounded by the lack of game in the area. The elephant numbers can be extraordinary in the dry winter months, when herds concentrate hard around the Linyanti River and the pool itself, but outside of that window the wildlife can thin out noticeably as the Savuti Channel dries up and animals disperse into the wider system.

So it’s a camp I recommend with a caveat: go for the luxury and go in the right season, and it delivers in a big way, especially for elephant. But if someone’s chasing consistent, year-round big cat and general game density the way you get at somewhere like Mombo or the Dinare camps, King’s Pool isn’t the first place I’d point them.