Botswana’s famous Okavango Delta is
one of the world’s last untameable wildernesses and the
labyrinth of lagoons and hidden channels covering an area of
over 15 000 sq km is the largest inland delta in the world.
Until the 1950s local farmers referred to it as a "useless
swamp" and would have preferred the land to be drained
and used as farmland! Its headwaters start in Angola’s
western highlands, with numerous tributaries joining to form
the Cubango River, which then flows through Namibia where it’s
called the Kavango, before finally entering Botswana as the
Okavango. With it come some 11 billion cubic metres of water
each year - a staggering 30 000 million litres of water per
day - that drains away through the maze of lagoons and channels
before dying in the hot sands of the Kalahari Desert to the
south.
Millions of years ago the Okavango used to flow into a large
inland lake called Lake Makgadikgadi, the remnants of which
are the Makgadikgadi Pans, and on to the sea via the Limpopo
River. These days, the river's changing web of channels flow
one way this year, and another the next. Sometimes called a
swamp, the Okavango is anything but. It is mysterious,
placid, and beautiful: an ever-expanding network of increasingly
smaller channels hemmed in by papyrus reeds, linking islands
and palm forests.
As the delta is so large, it’s not stuffed to the gills
with big animals. You’ll have to look carefully amongst
the long grasses and well-watered vegetation, but there are
substantial populations of elephant, lion, giraffe, wild dog,
leopard, cheetah and buffalo. There’s a full range of
antelope, large and small, including the unusual red lechwe,
and the delta is a veritable playground for hippo and croc.
Birdlife is prolific and varied, ranging from water birds to
shy forest dwellers. With a menu of over 80 species of fish
to choose from, including tiger and bream, it’s a favourite
haunt for the famous African fish eagle.
The delta offers a number of activities: from bird watching,
game viewing, simple relaxation and fishing, to flying over the
landscape by small plane for a view from the air. Above all
it offers the opportunity for a great wilderness experience.
The best way to explore is by mokoro (dug-out canoe) or by
foot. Transfer in by rugged Land Rover, meet your mokoros and
polers and spend a couple of days drifting through the watery
channels crammed with water lilies. Your poler will always find
a safe spot to swim and cool off away from the hippo and crocs.
Track spoor by foot with an experienced guide, and sleep in
the bush around a fire that will keep the invisibe
animals at bay.
There are also a number of remote and peaceful safari lodges
and camps around the Moremi Wildlife Reserve in the middle of
delta that can be reached by plane.
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