Khwai is a village on the north bank of the

Khwai River The Khwai River is a river in Northern Botswana. It extends from the Okavango River and forms part of the Northern border of the Moremi Game Reserve. Not far from the river, on the North Gate of Moremi, is the BaBugkakhwe village of Khwai. The a ...

in the North-West District of

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label= Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalaha ...

. The river is the northern boundary of the

Moremi Game Reserve Moremi Game Reserve is a protected area in Botswana. It lies on the eastern side of the Okavango Delta and was named after Chief Moremi of the BaTawana tribe. Moremi was designated as a game reserve, rather than a national park, when it was ...

, and the village is just outside the north gate of the reserve, which is on the eastern side of the

Okavango Delta The Okavango Delta (or Okavango Grassland; formerly spelled "Okovango" or "Okovanggo") in Botswana is a swampy inland delta formed where the Okavango River reaches a tectonic trough at an altitude of 930–1,000 m in the central part of the en ...

. The village has a population of approximately 400 BaBukakhwe or River Bushmen. Most of the inhabitants are Babukakhwae but some are Bayei as well. The Babukakhwae are a section of the

Basarwa The San peoples (also Saan), or Bushmen, are members of various Khoe, Tuu, or Kxʼa-speaking indigenous hunter-gatherer cultures that are the first cultures of Southern Africa, and whose territories span Botswana, Namibia, Angola, Zambia, ...

, bushmen, or San. Bukakhwaedam is the ancestral language of this village, but Setswana, English, and Afrikaans are also heard. Archeological evidence suggests that various Basarwa groups have been living in Botswana for at least 22,000 years, but it is not known when the Babukakhwae identity coalesced and when they became attached to the Khwai floodplain. The elders of Khwai remember leading more traditional lifestyles of hunting and gathering up until the 1960s when they were encouraged to settle into villages. The villagers originally settled into what is now a part of

but were forcibly removed by the Government of Botswana. The people of Khwai are developing an

eco-tourism Ecotourism is a form of tourism involving responsible travel (using sustainable transport) to natural areas, conserving the environment, and improving the well-being of the local people. Its purpose may be to educate the traveler, to provide fund ...

and sustainable development program to conserve the area's unique environment. They are building a community run safari organization as part of Botswana's

community based natural resource management Natural resource management (NRM) is the management of natural resources such as land, water, soil, plants and animals, with a particular focus on how management affects the quality of life for both present and future generations (stewardship). ...

program. Numerous lodges and safari camps surround the village.Google Maps - Khwai village
/ref> Khwai is served by

Khwai River Airport Khwai River Airport is an airport serving the lodges and camps around the village of Khwai in Botswana. The runway is from the Moremi Game Reserve north gate, and from one of the Khwai River hippo ponds. The game reserve is on the easter ...

References

Villages in Botswana {{Botswana-geo-stub