Okavango Delta :: overview

The Okavango Delta is one of the world’s greatest mysteries – water in a desert! The Kalahari Desert is the largest continuous stretch of sand in the world and within it lays the magnificent Okavango Delta, an area that is home to a myriad of animal and bird species. The area is a magnificent expanse of waterways, floodplains, forested islands and lagoons that covers about 18,000 sq kms.

The Okavango Delta, in the midst of the Kalahari sands, is Africa's largest and most beautiful oasis. The River Okavango, which rises in the highlands of Angola, never reaches the sea; instead, its mighty waters empty over the sand of the Kalahari Desert. Here the thirstland of the south meets a blue-green wilderness of fresh water, with emerald reedbeds and towering trees.

Apart from the beauty of this amazing wetland habitat, game viewing is excellent throughout the year. The heart of the Okavango is the Moremi Game Reserve. All the major ecotones of the Okavango are preserved within this reserve. Outside of and around the Moremi Game Reserve are large private reserves (known locally as concessions) that are leased out by the government of Botswana to African safari companies under strict guidelines and carrying capacities (number of guests permitted).

These large private concessions offer the highest quality, exclusive African safari experience, with massive tracts of pristine wilderness and a feeling of privacy almost impossible to find anywhere else in Africa today. One can go out all day on game drive or in mokoro (dugout canoe) in most areas and not see another soul besides the animals in the bush and on the savannah.

Because the Okavango Delta always has a certain amount of water, even in it's "dry" season, water based activities are on offer at many of the African safari camps here. Botswana safaris using boat and mokoro are an activity that should definitely be experienced by all who visit this wetland paradise. We also suggest walking safaris here as the guides are superb and the feeling of being on foot in Africa's wilderness are like nothing else we've tried.

For big game (lions, elephant, buffalo, etc), the Okavango is hard to beat and ornithologists will be in their own paradise here with over 400 species recorded, including many Okavango specials and lots of migrants during the summer months!