A Fresh Take on Conservation

Kavango by Mazaza Games invites players into the wilderness of Southern Africa to step into the role of a conservation expert. Over the course of three quick rounds, you’ll transform a barren landscape into a flourishing nature reserve filled with life — and tough decisions. Created by Matt and Zara, who actually worked in conservation in Botswana, the game feels deeply authentic. It’s not about collecting animals for trophies; it’s about protecting them, restoring balance, and managing limited resources under pressure.

At its heart, Kavango is a drafting and tableau-building game. You’ll draw and play cards representing species, habitats, and research projects to create a sustainable ecosystem. Every card is unique, which reflects the biodiversity of Africa’s Kavango region — and makes every session feel distinct.

A World That Feels Alive

Before the first turn, Kavango grabs your attention with its presentation. The artwork is outstanding. The pastel palette is rare in board gaming — gentle yet full of life — and every one of the 160 animal cards features a unique species illustration. It’s not just pretty; it’s thematically accurate, giving the impression that you’re curating a living world, not assembling an abstract point engine.

The overall aesthetic leans closer to Meadow or Wingspan than to flashier or darker games. But it sets its own mood: relaxed yet purposeful, cozy yet grounded. Even the game’s iconography feels clear and intuitive — a sign of thoughtful design rather than overproduction.

The component quality is solid. Player boards are large — perhaps too large for smaller tables — but they showcase the game’s visual richness. The animal score markers, storage patterns, and layout decisions all make sense once you start playing. It’s a tactile, inviting setup that draws curious players in long before the first card is drafted.

How It Plays – A Brief Overview

Kavango runs for three rounds of simultaneous play. Each round consists of drafting cards, building your reserve, completing research tasks, and balancing funding for protection.

The core of the game is card drafting. Players pass hands around the table, choosing cards to either play, reserve, or use for funding. Every card has multiple layers of function: it can serve as an animal, a resource, or part of a food chain. These interlocking systems make each choice meaningful — one card may unlock a new animal habitat, while another strengthens your funding network or helps protect endangered species.

The beauty lies in the simplicity of the rules. Like 7 Wonders, Kavango keeps the pace brisk. Turns are simultaneous, so there’s minimal downtime. Despite that, there’s still plenty to think about. Do you go after smaller species to complete quick research goals, or invest in long-term conservation projects for bigger rewards? Each decision contributes to your personal reserve and the shared global protection track.

The shared climate protection system is an especially nice touch. All players contribute to combating climate threats, but participation is optional. Those who invest gain potential end-game bonuses — and moral satisfaction — but others can choose to free-ride. This tension mirrors real-world environmental cooperation: everyone benefits from collective effort, yet not all contribute equally.

Strategic Depth and Player Choice

Kavango walks a careful line between accessibility and depth. It’s easy to learn — a few minutes of explanation and a single round are enough to get everyone comfortable — but the more you play, the more you notice its small, clever decisions.

Each turn asks you to weigh several competing priorities:

• Which habitats will best support your chosen species?

• How much funding can you dedicate to anti-poaching or climate protection?

• Do you invest in research tasks now or focus on immediate points?

• Are you setting up combos that other players might disrupt through drafting?

The asymmetrical player powers introduced through Conservation Experts add replayability and variation. Some of these abilities are strong, others more situational, but they all push you toward slightly different strategies. A few may feel unbalanced on first play, but as with most asymmetrical games, skill and adaptation usually even things out.

A common criticism among players is that personal objectives can feel swingy — drawing an objective that aligns naturally with your draft can lead to an easier win. Fortunately, there’s an easy fix: draw two, keep one before the third round, a variant inspired by Ark Nova. This house rule smooths out most of the luck without changing the game’s flow.

Comparing Kavango to Similar Games

For many players, Kavango will feel familiar — but also refreshing. Its closest relatives are Wingspan, Meadow, and 7 Wonders. From Wingspan, it borrows the calm, nature-focused tableau building. From 7 Wonders, it inherits the simultaneous drafting that keeps everyone engaged. And from Meadow, it takes the concept of interconnected species and ecosystems.

What sets Kavango apart is its thematic integration. While those games focus on individual species or collections, Kavango simulates ecosystem management. Food chains are sustainable, meaning resources you generate remain active throughout the game instead of being one-time-use. This gives the feeling of building something enduring — a living, breathing preserve rather than a collection of disconnected animals.

It also takes a step away from the sometimes-problematic “zoo” theme of other games. You’re not managing enclosures or entertainment spaces; you’re restoring nature. The shift from “ownership” to “protection” makes Kavango feel grounded, modern, and ethically thoughtful.

Thematic Strength and Educational Value

Few games manage to be this thematic without becoming preachy. Kavango uses its subject matter not as decoration, but as the backbone of gameplay. Poaching, climate change, habitat destruction — these issues appear naturally through mechanics rather than through walls of text or moral lessons.

If you fail to invest in protection, you’ll find that some species simply can’t survive in your reserve. It’s not punishment — it’s consequence. Likewise, global climate neglect affects everyone, adding tension to the cooperative layer. It’s a clever design choice that subtly teaches players about interdependence without breaking the flow of play.

For families, teachers, or clubs interested in games with meaningful themes, Kavango is an ideal candidate. It’s accessible enough for casual gamers, but smart enough to start conversations about real conservation work.

Solo Mode and Replayability

While Kavango shines brightest with three to five players, the solo mode deserves mention. You play against an automated opponent (nicknamed Oppo), who drafts according to structured priorities. This keeps turns quick and the challenge real. The AI feels purposeful, not random — a pleasant surprise for a lighter drafting game.

Replayability is strong. Between 160 species, 45 research cards, 10 experts, and multiple landscape boards, no two games feel identical. Even after several plays, you’ll keep discovering new combinations and strategies.

Production and Accessibility

Mazaza Games did a commendable job making Kavango both attractive and user-friendly. The components are functional and durable, though the large player boards can be overwhelming on small tables. Still, this extra space allows the art and icons to breathe, and the table presence is undeniably impressive once everything is laid out.

Color contrast could be improved for color-blind accessibility, and some players might prefer a more compact setup. But overall, the clarity of icons and structure of turns make the game smooth to teach and replay.

Minor Quibbles and Variants

No game is flawless, and Kavango has a few rough edges worth noting.

• Two-player mode feels less dynamic. Fewer cards circulate, which limits diversity and occasionally locks certain animals out of play. It’s not broken, but three to five players offer a far richer experience.

• Personal objectives and asymmetric powers aren’t perfectly balanced, though they’re easily fixed through house rules.

• Luck of the draw can occasionally favor one player’s ecosystem over another, especially if card synergies line up early. This is a known trait of drafting games, not a deal-breaker.

• Table size is something to consider — the boards are large, and with expansions planned, space management will matter.

Despite these points, most players find that the charm of the theme and the smoothness of the gameplay outweigh these minor issues.

The Lodges Expansion and Future Potential

Mazaza Games has already teased the Lodges Expansion, adding new layers of strategy and depth. This expansion appears to focus on infrastructure and visitor management, deepening the mid-game economy without overcomplicating the rules. Early impressions suggest it will give more weight to player decisions about long-term investment — perfect for those who want a slightly heavier experience.

Given the foundation of the base game, Kavango has the potential to become a small ecosystem of its own — one that grows through modular expansions while keeping its accessibility intact.

Verdict

Kavango stands out as one of the most thematically coherent and visually stunning drafting games in recent years. It merges tableau building, ecosystem management, and educational design into an elegant package that’s easy to teach, quick to play, and rewarding to master.

Its strengths are many: gorgeous artwork, intuitive iconography, meaningful theme integration, and fast simultaneous play. Its weaknesses — mild imbalance, limited card circulation at two players, and a large table footprint — are minor compared to what it achieves.

More importantly, Kavango manages to feel good to play. Every round builds toward something larger, every decision ties into the bigger picture of protecting life rather than exploiting it. It’s strategic but not stressful, competitive but not cutthroat, and meaningful without being heavy-handed.

In a market full of flashy but shallow nature games, Kavango feels refreshingly sincere. It knows what it wants to be — and it achieves it.

– David

Scratches: 8.0/10.0