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 Kalahar ...

. 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 c ...

, and the village is just outside the north gate of the reserve, which is on the eastern side of the Okavango Delta. The village has a population of approximately 400 BaBukakhwe or

River Bushmen A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

. Most of the inhabitants are Babukakhwae but some are

Bayei The MaYeyi (also: ''Yeyi'' or ''Bayei'') are Bantu-speaking people of north-western Botswana and north-eastern Namibia. The Yeyi immigrated to the area in the 18th century from the north, and lived in close cooperation with the San people, or '' ...

as well. The Babukakhwae are a section of the Basarwa, 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 funds ...

and sustainable development program to conserve the area's unique environment. They are building a community run

safari A safari (; ) is an overland journey to observe wild animals, especially in eastern or southern Africa. The so-called "Big Five" game animals of Africa – lion, leopard, rhinoceros, elephant, and Cape buffalo – particularly form an importa ...

organization as part of Botswana's community based natural resource management 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 eastern s ...

References

Villages in Botswana {{Botswana-geo-stub