Tourists on safari in Botswana can experience the wonder that is the Okavango Delta, an 85,000 square-mile wetland that attracts wildlife to its life-giving waters in the middle of the Kalahari Desert. The nearby camps, game parks, and reserves provide many touring options for visitors to what has been called “Africa’s Last Eden.”
The World’s Largest Inland Delta
December rains in the highlands of Angola form the Cubango River that flows southeast for 1,000 miles before crossing into the southern African nation of Botswana as the Okavango River. The river then crosses a series of geologic faults and fans out into the Kalahari Desert over a period of months. This seasonal ebb and flow surrounded by the Kalahari sands provides a reprieve to dry land, scarce grasses, and disappearing water holes. The annual flood forms what is known as the largest inland delta in the world, and creates floodplains, channels, islands, and wetlands for animals that have been roaming Botswana’s arid bush in search of food and water.
The Delta Attracts Africa’s Diversity of Wildlife
Desert and swamp dwellers meet at this inland oasis and thrive in different parts of the delta. Hippos seek refuge in its pools, crocodiles in the backwaters, storks in the reed beds, and schools of fish in the papyrus-lined channels. In addition, herds of zebra, giraffe, and buffalo, along with lions and hyenas, find replenishment at the outer perimeters of the delta. This area also attracts Africa’s largest heard of elephants which thrive due to Botswana’s successful anti-poaching policies. A significant part of Botswana’s land area is set aside for game parks and reserves, many within or nearby the Okavango Delta. These areas, therefore, not only attract large herds of animals, but also eco-tourists who seek to avoid the more popular safari countries that at times are overrun with tour groups.
Botswana Offers Many African Safari Options
The best time to visit the Okavango Delta is from May to October when the wildlife is the most concentrated. This area of Botswana includes some of the most spectacular and unspoiled game viewing areas in Africa; Moremi Wildlife Reserve and Chobe National Park are two of the best. Tourists on photographic safaris have many tour options from which to choose, with a range of accommodations from luxury lodges to no-nonsense tent camps in the bush. In a typical tour, game drives are given by Jeep or Range Rover in the mornings and afternoons when animals are most active. Some tours provide visitors with boat trips along the wider channels of the delta or with rides in dugout canoes known as mokoro that are poled by native peoples along smaller, peaceful channels of reeds and lily pads.
