Moremi
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Sable Alley
Thirty hippo in the front row, and the reserve at your back.
From our guest surveys — how we gather evidence
Front row on the lagoon
Sable Alley's masterstroke is its seating plan: every part of the camp — lounge, dining deck, pool, each of the twelve tents — faces the same lily-covered lagoon, where a resident pod of around thirty hippo runs the day's entertainment and elephant and buffalo file down to drink. The style is light, bright and unstuffy — clean lines, pale canvas, a relaxed sociability that guests mention as often as the wildlife — and the lagoon is the rest: this is game viewing that starts before breakfast and carries on after the vehicles are washed down.
The main deck spreads to alfresco sitting areas, a swimming pool and a sun deck angled at the water, and the whole operation runs on solar. Beyond the lagoon, the view carries to Moremi Game Reserve itself — the boundary is close enough to see.
Twelve tents facing the water
Slide the screen doors back at dawn and the lagoon's morning report comes in — hippo grunting themselves under, a fish eagle opening the day — while the light comes up pale gold through the mesh and your coffee machine mutters into life. The tents are big, airy rooms on raised decks: a large bed facing the water, indoor and outdoor sitting areas, a writing desk, and a bathroom at the back with indoor and outdoor showers for rinsing the day's dust under the sky. Each keeps its own plunge pool and shaded veranda at the lagoon view — the between-drives hours are an event here, not an interlude.
Ten tents take a double or twin; the two family tents interconnect, keeping parents and children under one run of canvas.
The reserve at large
Morning and afternoon game drives work the Khwai Private Reserve's 200,000 hectares — acacia woodland, riverine forest, seasonal pans and channels off the Khwai — ground rich enough that a single drive can log more than fifty species. Lion, leopard, cheetah and wild dog all work the floodplains, elephant and buffalo move through in herds, and the reserve's sable and roan supply the rarities its name promises. Because only a handful of sister camps share this ground, sightings are managed and yours — no queues, no radios crackling in convoy.
Night drives are available after dark — the private ground keeps its own hours — bush walks slow the same country to footprint pace, and when the water allows, mokoro trips and boat outings take the safari onto the channels. Committed walkers should book a private vehicle and guide for the stay and make a programme of it.
Give one afternoon to the lagoon: veranda, plunge pool, and the hippo pod's slow theatre as the elephant come down to drink. At Sable Alley a missed drive isn't a missed safari — it's the front row.
The lagoon is fed by two channels — the Khwai, and the Sable Alley — the waterway the camp takes its name from, itself named for the sable antelope that remain the reserve's calling card.
The reserve's beating heart
Sable Alley stands at the centre of the Khwai Private Reserve, on a lagoon fed by the Khwai and Sable Alley channels, with Moremi Game Reserve across the southern boundary and Chobe's country to the east. Light aircraft from Maun or Kasane land at the reserve's airstrip, with a game-drive transfer to camp.
What it costs.
Rates are per person per night, based on two guests travelling together (sharing).
The complete private-reserve base
Sable Alley is the camp that answers the whole brief at once: a wildlife stage in front, a private reserve behind, plunge-pool comfort in the middle, and a sociable, unstuffy way of running it all. For the Khwai Private Reserve leg of a journey it is the natural base — with its smaller sister camps a short drive away when you want the volume turned down.
Is this for you
- ✓You want camp itself to be a sighting — the lagoon is busy all day
- ✓Private-reserve exclusivity matters, without giving up a full-service camp
- ✓You'd like walks and water safaris folded into the drive programme
Wild dogs, lions, hippos, owls... we had a bit of everything here. Some drives were quiet and then suddenly crazy. Our guide was excellent, never overdid it.
Tell us your dates and we'll build the journey around Sable Alley — flights into the reserve, the nights, and the sleep-out to fold in.
The fine print.
- —All meals
- —Local-brand drinks
- —Two scheduled camp activities daily
- —Park fees
- —Return airstrip transfers
- —Laundry
- —Flights to and from the reserve's airstrip
- —Premium-brand drinks
- —Conservation, community & reserve fee (charged per person per night)
- —Private vehicle and guide (required for dedicated walking programmes)
- —Travel and medical insurance
- —Gratuities and items of a personal nature
Children from six years are welcome; the two family tents interconnect, and families with children under ten pre-book a private vehicle for the stay.
By light aircraft from Maun or Kasane to the Khwai Private Reserve's airstrip, then a game-drive transfer to camp.
Mokoro and boating depend on seasonal water levels. The camp is unfenced and the lagoon's regulars wander through — staff walk you to your tent after dark.