Okavango Delta

Okavango Delta

The Okavango delta among world safari destinations stands out like letters of fire across the sky, no wonder quote and quote it is world renowned as the wet green blue Kalahari jewel.

It is located in the north-western parts of Botswana deep in the middle of the fourth largest desert in the world, the thirsty rust red dusty Kalahari Desert. In 1962 the Batawana tribe’s men set aside a third of the Okavango delta as a conservation area cover to conserve the flora and fauna of the area for its future generation, a master stroke if I may, considering the times. They named it Moremi Game Reserve after their beloved leader Chief Moremi III.

The deltas area swings between 6,000 – 18, 000 square kilometres depending on the tenacity of the floods. Overtime this pristine nature’s masterpiece (desert fresh water wetland) has earned itself several accolades and aptly so. On the 11th of February 2013 in Arusha, Tanzania this aquatic paradise despite not being the largest in the world, be it even in Africa, was drafted in the exclusive hall of fame of the seven natural wonders of the Africa!

Not to be confused with the seven natural wonders of the world, it shares this prestigious accolade with other African mystic beauties like Mountain Kilimanjaro of Tanzania, the Nile river of Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Southern Sudan and Uganda, the Red Sea reefs of the coast of Egypt, Eritrea and Sudan, the Sahara Desert of Algeria, chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Sudan, Tunisia and western Sahara, the Serengeti migration of Tanzania and Kenya and last but not least the Ngorongoro crater of Tanzania. Just the next year as if it was just all of a sudden that this dramatic aquatic beauty of the largest swamp in the world was being noticed. On the 22nd of June 2014 in Doha Qatar, at the meeting of the world heritage committee chaired by Sheikh Al Mayassa Bint Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani (yes it’s quite a name, we concur with you). The Okavango delta was inscribed as the proud 1000th site on the UNESCO world heritage list. It was such a party in the streets of Botswana from Gaborone to Maun for the young and old alike, for this wasn’t a mean feat that their own country’s symbolism was now sitting on the same table of legends like the Taj Mahal, The Grand Canyon and the Great Wall of China just to mention a few.

This exceptionally scenic land scape of a rare beauty of permanent crystal clear waters in the otherwise dry Kalahari Desert wasn’t meant to be so hence in some sectors it’s called a nature fluke considering that most deltas are sprawling wetlands at the end of rivers as they empty into seas just like the Niger Delta spreads into the Gulf of Guinea (Atlantic Ocean) or better still India’s Ganges emptying into the Bay of Bengal (Indian Ocean).

A natural phenomenon the mystic Okavango delta defies, as it is birthed out of bantam trickles of water from the highlands of Angola as if lending credence to the English saying “small beginnings are the launch pad to great and mighty endings”. For this trickle on its downstream 1,600 km journey through three African countries through Angola links up with smaller tributaries to form the mammoth river Cuito, which flows southwards to Namibia gaining more size and speed as the Cubango River joins it as well a coalition that eventually climaxes into the mighty River Okavango (third largest in south Africa).

Before the formation of the Okavango Delta the Okavango River flowed through Botswana depositing in the massive lakes of Botswana’s Makgadikgadi pans just like rivers are coded to empty into seas and lakes. However, over 50,000 years ago it all changed when an earthquake in today’s border areas of Namibia and Botswana disturbed the rivers gradient, a thingamajig that chocked the river system leading to a staggering over 12 million litres spillage of fresh water into the desert, a fluke like some refer to it has so richly blessed the world with this magnificent oasis (world’s largest) called the Okavango Delta, a fluke nature has not replicated anywhere else on planet earth.

Some call it the last Eden on planet earth, a moniker it comfortably and pompously wears year in year out without a glitch. This fan shaped delta owing to its river system not emptying into the sea but into the middle of a landmass signifies that geographically it’s called an endorheic delta and it is further classified as an alluvial fan because it has areas that are occasionally, seasonally and permanently flooded. The variable and unpredictable distribution and flow of the the Okavango River waters in this alluvial fan of Okavango delta are manipulated by both physical processes (early sand channels, tectonic movements, slopes, faults & sedimentation) and biological processes (hippo movements, termite mounds & vegetation growth). The delta comprises of many channels, minute tributaries and inlets as well as thousands of islands erratic in size from the smallest termite mound to the larger than a city (largest) island known as the chief island. The swamp is characterised by two distinct kinds of vegetation with the perennial swamps having lush emerald swathes of papyrus, groves of wild dates, lagoons fringed with flooding water lilies and islands laden with mopane forests. Then the seasonal swamps that dry gradually with the onset of summer are mainly open floodplains enclosed with sumptuous grasses during the summer and are immersed in water during winter. The boundaries of the flood plains sustain scrub vegetation, fig trees, sausage trees and elegant fan palm trees.

The timing of the floods in the Okavango delta are magical so to speak, since in summer (April & May) when the Botswana rains disappear the flood waters begin their gruelling overly 1,300 km journey of one month from the Angolan heights to the Botswana at Mohembo in the Caprivi then onto the enormous fan shaped Okavango Delta, a phenomenon caused by a measly 60m elevation drop from the highlands to the delta. It then takes another three months for the water to sieve through to revitalise the astonishing titanic ecosystem of animal and plant life in the delta, a doodad that causes the fluctuation in the delta’s area size from 6,000 - 18,000 square kilometres. A lot of the sweet waters of River Okavango is lost to evaporation and transpiration on the river’s journey, in that by the time it is reaching the deltas southern fringes in the town of Maun 95 % of the water is already gone with as little as only 2 % reaching Thamalakane River that may continue to the east to the Boteti River to fill Lake Xau or the Makgadikgadi Pans or channel west to to fill Lake Ngami. The floods in the Okavango Delta normally are at their epic during the months of July and August and they begin to lessen in the month of September. To throw a spanner in the wax when the floods are at their highest in the delta it is actually the the winter dry season of Botswana with no rains at all in Botswana meaning its River Okavango that swells the delta just Lake Kariba takes months to be filled up by the waters from the upper reaches of River Zambezi. Then November – February are the hottest months characterised by remorseless heat during the dusty hollow bone dry day and a biting cold in the nigh yet it is the wet season because it is when rain falls in Botswana. Because of the deltas seasonality the flora and fauna of the delta have overtime adjusted their biological cycles to synchronise with the floodings and rains making the Okavango an exceptional poster child of a perfect interaction between biological, climatic and hydrological processes.

The Okavango delta is home to the African big five (lions, leopards, buffaloes, elephants and rhinos) meaning the hardest african animals to hunt. The delta fan at its swolest point of over 1800 square meters in the months of July- September attracts well over 200,000 animals that trek thousands of miles during Botswana’s dry season through the Kalahari Desert in search of the sweet waters of the Okavango delta which filter through the Kalahari sand and evaporate before it stagnates hence making the several isolated islets home. You will be astonished at the staggering number of Loxodonta africana (scientific name of African elephants) coming through from the deserts with a ghostly white dust covered body before they plunge in the waters of the Okavanago delta. During this time the place will be home to half of the elephant’s population on the african continent and notably also it is the home of the largest population of the Lechewe antelope in Africa. Several other mamals like the wildebessts, zebras, aardwolf, pangolin, aardvark and bat-eared fox. warthogs, antelopes, waterbucks, monkeys, baboons and of course the predators like the African round eared wild dogs, cheetahs, hyenas are all found in this wildlife aquatic paradise and some like the sitatunga and lechewe even the lions have adopted to the semi-aquatic life of the Okavango delta swamp. These array of exciting animals make up for an exciting game viewing opportunity in this wildlife laden unmolested wilderness thus making Okavango delta an ultimate safari destination since it’s not a national park which signifies fewer restrictions on activities allowing off-road driving in search of game as well as night drives and safari walks as well as affording exclusive and private safaris.

Okavango delta is a birders haven since it is an important Bird Area (IBA) harbouring well over 530 recorded species of birds both migratory and resident with well over 24 bird species that are globally threatened like the Wattled Crane, Slaty Egret, the Southern Ground-Hornbill, then 33 species of water birds that is roughly a 1% of their total global population and several other birds like the beautiful colourful weaver birds, , bustard, hornbill, spurfowl, lapwing, plover, nightjar, cuckoo, lark, shrike, warbler, swallow, swift, oriole flycatcher, batis, weaver, babbler, canary African skimmer, quails, storks, ibis, Pel's fishing owl herons, egrets, cranes to the beautiful sounds of the doves kruuu kruuu kuruuuuu kuku, so birders will have a trigger happy moment with their cameras as the birding action is just unbelievable as one navigates the channels in a Mokoro canoe with the polers (guide) pointing at every bird along the channel and educating his visitors about them at every turn of the channel as the Mokoro slowly sails through some of the bird nests and habitats on the banks. A good camera with lots of storage space and binoculars will be in handy for the birding action is like no other in the swamps of Okavango delta when it comes to birding. Making Okavango delta arguably the single best destination for birders in Southern Africa.

The Okavango Delta is divided into 18 concessions given to private developers and communities who operate not more than 6 lodges on them and Moremi national park its self that inhabits 40% of the Delta’s area known as mopane tongue that is characterised by lush forests, lagoons and floodplains. The majority of wildlife here are noticeably human interference adapted, as they will stay relaxed allowing close vehicle approaches, like they are saying you are welcome to to our slice of heaven. You will particularly find big herds of elephants here and many prides of lions stalking their prey in the thick of the night. This area is particularly dedicated to mobile tent safaris and self-drive visitors.