Skybeds

What Skybeds is

Skybeds is not a conventional camp. Each of its three “rooms” is a three-storey raised platform standing on the open plains of the Khwai Private Reserve, and guests sleep on the top level completely open to the sky. It is one of the most distinctive things you can do in Botswana.

How a Skybed is arranged

The first floor holds a bathroom with a flushing loo; above it is a dressing area; and on the top floor is a large double bed dressed in white linen and a feather duvet, entirely open to the stars. Rustic in the right ways, but not roughing it.

Where it sits

Skybeds is deep inside the Khwai Private Reserve, on the northern edge of the Moremi ecosystem. Khwai is one of the best predator areas in northern Botswana and the reserve is private, so the usual national park restrictions do not apply.

The waterhole

The platforms overlook a busy waterhole, and that is the point. The camp’s own account of a single night includes wild dog, lion, elephant and hyena. You are watching from directly above the action rather than driving to find it.

Three rooms only

There are three Skybeds in total. That makes the whole site smaller than most camps’ family units, and it means the experience is genuinely private.

Dining

There is a dedicated dining and sundowner platform, with meals taken outside. Eating on a raised platform above the plains at sunset is a large part of what guests remember.

How to book it

Skybeds can only be booked in combination with a stay at one of the operator’s other Khwai Private Reserve camps: Elephant Pan, Tuludi, Sable Alley or Little Sable. It is designed as a night or two within a longer Khwai stay rather than a standalone destination.

When it is open

Skybeds operates from April to October only. It is an open-air structure, so it closes for the rains — worth planning around, since the green season traveller cannot include it.

Community and conservation

The Khwai Private Reserve is a joint venture with Khwai Village, and staying on the reserve directs revenue to that community. Khwai has a long and complicated relationship with the surrounding protected areas, and the reserve model is a direct response to it.

Who it suits

Travellers who want one genuinely unusual night in the middle of a Botswana trip, and who are comfortable sleeping outdoors with game moving below. It is not for anyone who needs a door that closes, and it is not a full-programme camp — it is an experience to slot into a Khwai itinerary.