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Geography, History, Maun, Moremi Game Reserve, Okavango Dynamics, Private Concessions, Rhinos, Wildlife & Safaris

History

The Okavango Delta is located at the far southern end of Africa's Great Rift, which begins far north at the Red Sea is slowly splitting apart the continent. The Rift passes through Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. From Tanzania it splits and cuts through Malawi and Mozambique in the east and through Zambia's Luangwa Valley and Zimbabwe's Kariba Valley, eventually reaching the Victoria Falls. From there it cuts into Botswana, where it is at its smallest.

The main Okavango rift lies between two parallel fault lines - one at the lower extremity of the Delta passing through Maun (the Thamalakane fault) and the other at the northern edge of the Delta along the line of the Selinda Spillway (the Gomare fault).

The area of land between the two southwesterly faults has dropped about 1 000 feet (300 m), forming the Okavango trough, which contains the Delta's water. Over time, the trough filled with windblown sand from the Kalahari desert and sediments carried by the Okavango River, creating a rich and productive biological substrate for vegetation and wildlife support.

Before the Okavango rift formed, the Okavango River flowed directly through the area into the Makgadikgadi Pans and out to the Indian Ocean via the Limpopo River. When the Thamalakane fault at the lower edge of today's Delta rose up, the Okavango River's flow was blocked and this began the Delta's formation.

Humans are thought to have inhabited the Okavango region for at least 100 000 years. The first people living in the Delta must have enjoyed its great bounty, with plenty of mammals, fresh water, fish, and vegetation combining to make it a place of plenty.

The early humans of the Okavango were the hunter-gatherer ancestors of the present-day San Bushman people. Bantu-speaking people arrived from the north, bringing with them agriculture and their descendants now form the majority of the Delta's inhabitants, including the Bugakhwe, Wayeyi, and Hambukushu.

geography

Dubbed the ‘Jewel of the Kalahari’, the Okavango Delta wetlands are an exquisite example of the bounty of Africa. Although technically an 'alluvial fan' and not a true delta (as its water never reaches the sea), the shape appears like a delta when viewed from far above.

The Okavango is created by waters flowing down the Cubango/Okavango River from the catchment in the Angolan highlands to the north and spilling into a tectonic trough between two geological fault lines in a portion of the Kalahari Desert. It is without doubt one of the world’s most spectacular, beautiful and dynamic natural places.

The Okavango Delta is a highly dynamic ecosystem as annual flood waters reaching it can fluctuate widely based on the rainfall in Angola. The myriad channels that fill and flow in a given year may become blocked by building sediment or vegetation and cause new channels to form, thus changing year to year.

Another factor adding to the dynamics of the Delta is the shifting tectonics well below the sands. These subterranean movements cause slight elevational changes on the surface and alter channel routes.

Based upon the size of a flood in any given year, the extent of the Okavango Delta ranges between 5 800 - 8 500 square miles (15 000 - 22 000 sq kms).

Okavango Dynamics

The Okavango receives water from two different sources, at two different time per year. The first is the annual flood, arriving from rains falling during January far to the north in Angola and arriving via rivers flowing south to Botswana a couple of months later. The second is local rains, which fall on northern Bostwana between November and April.

The summer brings the rain and this is often referred to as the 'green season'. The winter months bring the flood water and, although the Delta becomes full of water in the winter, the grass and land around the channels is mostly brown and dry.

Due to the lack of water other than in the larger channels, these winter months are the busiest for tourism, as animals like elephants are more likely to be found around these more permanent water sources.

The largest volume of flood water flows into the Okavango from March through May, having taken several months to flow south from Angola to finally reach the far northern Delta (the 'Okavango Panhandle'). This flood water may take an additional 2-3 months to travel from the northern Panhandle, through the myriad rivers and channels of the Okavango, and down to Maun in the south of the Delta.

Although the distance from the northern Panhandle to Maun is only 160 miles (260 kms), the north-to-south gradient of the Okavango trough is very slight and its passage is further slowed by papyrus and other swamp vegetation, so the water takes a long time to travel this distance.

Evaporation and transpiration eliminates much of the flood water in the Delta by sometime in October. Water levels are reduced significantly in the big rivers and perhaps completely in the smaller channels and pans. By late October the land becomes very dry, with only the permanent channels of the Delta still holding water.

Rains in the Okavango occur in the summer months, with sporadic showers typically starting sometime in November and reaching their peak in January and February. By the end of April the rainfall has abated.

After the rains have begun, the land in the Delta is transformed into a verdant paradise of greens and blues, with flowers on the ground and in the trees. Many herbivores that depend on fresh grazing (like impalas and warthogs) give birth during this 'green' season.

The fresh water fills pans across the region and fresh grass covers the plains, nourishing an abundance of new life in the Delta, including many thousands of birds from far north, which migrate here to nest and stay through the summer.

Moremi Game Reserve

Situated on the eastern side of the Okavango Delta, the Moremi Game Reserve is a fully protected area, much like a National Park. The only difference is that local BaSarwa people living here were allowed to remain living within the reserve.

Covering roughly 1 900 square miles (5 000 sq kms ) of the central and eastern part of the Delta, Moremi contains all the major habitat types found in the Okavango, including permanent water, mopane woodland, acacia forest, savanna grasslands, floodplains, lagoons, and palm islands. Only 30% of the reserve is land, with the majority being permanent or seasonal water.

The reserve was declared in 1963 and named for the Batawana Chief, Moremi III. The chief's widow, who was ruling at this time, proclaimed the reserve out of her concern that hunting was extracting too great a toll on the region's wildlife. Later during the 1970s, the reserve was extended to include Chief's Island, then known as Chief Moremi's Royal Hunting Grounds.

Roughly 1,000 square kms (400 sq miles) in size, the Chief's Island is the largest expanse of solid ground within the Okavango Delta and it is thought to have been formed by tectonic uplifting.

Today there are only a handful of safari lodges and some non-permanent camping sites located within the reserve itself, and hunting of any kind is strictly prohibited. Game viewing in Moremi is spectacularly good.

Private Concessions

The entire land area of Botswana is now divided into tracts of land called Wildlife Management Areas (commonly referred to as 'concessions'). The concessions are organized, wherever possible, around existing settlements and those under community management are designed to benefit the local people and give responsibility for managing and administering wildlife to the local community.

In the past two decades, photo safari operators have negotiated sub-lease agreements for the use of many of the community-managed concessions. This was mostly due to the high demand for this type of tourism and the limited number of beds available is safari areas.

Many new safari camps were built in the Okavango during this time and the number of concessions allowing commercial hunting dropped to zero.  In fact, twenty years ago, the majority of the Okavango (outside of Moremi Game Reserve) was hunting area, but photographic tourism has won out over consumptive use of wildlife.

Concession lease periods usually run 15 years or so and the land remains in the ownership of the country; the private sector may not own the land. Significant revenue is paid to local sources before profits may be realized by the private sector and the number of beds allowed is strictly enforced.

Concession operators pay high annual fees for each vehicle, aircraft and boat used within the area and must employ locals from the area as guides and to help operate the camp, thus reinforcing the policy of involving and benefiting the communities living in and around the concessions. See our map above for concession boundaries and safari camps and lodges.

Okavango Wildlife and Safaris

The Okavango is a paradise for wildlife, as can be expected with such a diverse and water-rich ecosystem. All of Africa's Big Five (lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo, and rhino) are here, as well as cheetah, African wild dog (an endangered species and safari fan favorite), spotted hyena, and more.

Plains game includes giraffe, zebra, impala, tsessebe (the southern African equivalent to the topi antelope of East Africa), greater kudu, and water-adapted species such as red lechwe and sitatunga. Bird life is extremely diverse and the summer months are especially rewarding, with many migrants arriving from the north.

Safaris in the Okavango include game drives in open 4WD vehicles, allowing visitors to get up close to wild animals. Outside of the Moremi Game Reserve, safari vehicles can traverse off-road to follow animals like leopards and lions as they go about their lives.

Safari camps situated near permanent water also offer safaris on the water, either in motorized boat or on mekoro (a traditional canoe which is propelled by your guide using a long pole). Some camps may also offer walking safaris.

Rhinos in the Okavango

Like most of Africa, rhinos were on the brink of extinction in Botswana by the 1980s. A 1992 survey revealed that black rhinos were completely extinct in the wild in Botswana, while only 19 white rhinos were all that remained. This prompted the Botswana government to adopt a zero-tolerance policy with regards to poaching and all remaining white rhinos in the wild were captured and brought to various rhino sanctuaries to protect these last survivors.

Beginning in 2000, the Botswana government, in collaboration with Wilderness Safaris and funded by NGO's and private donors, initiated a rhino reintroduction project. The project has been successful and is ongoing, and today both species of rhino once again roam the Okavango and have even dispersed to areas beyond the Delta.

Maun

Maun is located at the southern boundary of the Okavango Delta and serves as the gateway for safaris to the region. Although a small town (population 50 000), its location means that daily flights from Johannesburg and other cities bring tourists on their way to safari camps throughout the Okavango, Selinda and Linyanti.

Few tourists spend more than a few hours in Maun, but its airport is a one of the busiest in Africa in terms of number of flights, with numerous charter companies flying tourists into and out of private airstrips throughout the region.

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Geography, History, Maun, Moremi Game Reserve, Okavango Dynamics, Private Concessions, Rhinos, Wildlife & Safaris