the iconic okavango delta

Often referred to as the ‘jewel’ of the Kalahari, The Okavango Delta is situated deep within the Kalahari Basin. Swollen with floodwaters from the summer rains, the Okavango River travels from the Angolan highlands, crosses into Botswana from the Caprivi in Namibia, then later spills over the vast, fan-shaped Delta. 

Welcome to your backgarden

The extraordinary timing of the flood means that just as the water from Botswana’s summer rains disappear (April to May), so the floodwaters begin their journey – 1,300 kilometres of which is through Kalahari sands – revitalising a vast and remarkably diverse ecosystem of plant life and attracting large concentrations of wildlife. By the time the water reaches the town of Maun (June to July), at the Delta’s southern fringes, its volume is a fraction of what it was. 

As little as two percent of the water reaches the Thamalakane River in Maun, over 95 percent lost to evaporation. The flow of the many rivers fringing from the Okavango River are determined by tectonic plates, embedded deep below the Kalahari sand.