Chameleon Holidays & Travel for Safaris & Vacations in Africa | Southern Africa | Botswana | Places Of Interest | Okavango Delta | Chobe National Park | Maun

Okavango Delta
The Okavango is a labyrinth of lagoons, lakes and hidden channels covering an area of over 17,000 square kilometres and the largest inland delta in the world. Trapped in the parched Kalahari sands it is a magnet for the wildlife who depend on the permanent waters of this unique feature.

The Okavango, which originates in the uplands of Angola to the north-west, flows into and then spreads over the sandy spaces of the Kalahari to form an immense and wondrous inland delta of lagoon and labyrinthine channel, palm-fringed island and fertile floodplain. A number of safari lodges and camps have been established in and around this watery wilderness. This wilderness and the nearby game-rich Moremi Game Reserve and Chobe National Park reserves, offer the visitors the best of several worlds, appealing variously to the game-viewer and bird-watcher, the hunter and the sporting fisherman, the explorer of hidden places and the lover of Africa in its loveliest and least spoilt state. 

It contains about 95% of all surface water in Botswana from the pan handle section in the north, spreading across to the Eastern Delta, Moremi and as far south to Maun, incorporating various islands along the way. 

There are plenty of lodges and camps but it's generally fair to say that a visit here costs a reasonable amount of money!  In fact, even with basic camping it's not a cheap option but the benefits are usually worth the cost.  One thing to remember is that many of the regions support not only the animals but a growing number of people and their livestock. 

As a rough guideline to the regions they can be split into the following, however, for more detail its worth reading and checking maps out to see the "ins and outs" of the area.

Eastern Delta - from Maun this is an accessible region and mokoro/bush camping is available.

Okavango Panhandle - easily reached from Namibia (both from the north and east of Namibia).  It's a popular area as it offers affordable mokoro and delta excursions but sometimes not what is considered a traditional Delta experience.  Game is more limited in this region but relaxation, tranquillity, swampy lagoons and fishing are all on offer.

Inner Delta - this is north, south and west of Moremi and many lodges are located on the islands around here.  It's full of small reserves, concessions and plenty of game and watercourses and varies from region to region.  Easily accessible from Maun though much of the area is for fly in guests.

Moremi Game Reserve - last by not least Moremi!   The only protected area within the Delta ensures there is plenty of game- including the Big 5 and proves to be ever popular with visitors.  Habitats vary considerably with woodland, grasslands, marsh and flood plains.  Islands include the famous Chief's Island and plenty more.  Waterways are both permanent with lagoons as well as seasonal plains.   There is a good selection of lodges (often very pricey) and are accessible by vehicle from Chobe and Maun as well as fly in charters. 

Maun - the bustling and busy, dusty town that is the main entry point to the Delta.  This ever-developing town offers a range of accommodation from camping to good hotels/lodges, banks, etc but you never forget you are in the heart of Africa.  Many trips depart and/or finish in Maun and the airport provides not only international connections to Jo'berg, Windhoek etc but also for local departures and chartered flights into the Delta.  It's worth noting that whilst you can book your trip from here getting availibility in high season is a huge challenge. 

- The Serondela area of the park features lush plains and dense teak forests, its close to the Chobe River in the extreme north-east and attracts animals (and humans) in abundance during the dry season.  Owing to its location close to the Victoria Falls and the town of Kasane it's the most popular region.  Guests are normally able to join river cruises and game drives and see huge populations of elephants as well as predators. 

- The Savuti Marsh in the west is a relic of an ancient lake.  Savuti is often considered one of the best all-seaon game viewing areas in Africa but is a little more difficult to get to for the average tourist travelling through, the rewards are certainly worth the effort

- The Linyanti Swamps in the north-west located alongside the Linyanti River, feature riverine wookland as well as lagoons and floodplains.  The swamps are excellent for game viewing and there is also a strong emphasis on bird-watching.  This region can be difficult to reach during the rainy season

- The hot, dry hinterland between the three is mostly covered in nogatsaa grass woodland.  Also rarely visited it is a good place to see eland.

All major species can be seen in the park - giraffe; elephant; zebra; impala; tsessebe; roan; sable; wildebeest; kudu; buffalo; waterbuck; warthog; eland and predators such as lion, hyaena and jackal as well as the less common cheetah and wild dog (not forgetting leopard too.).  In particular Chobe National Park as a whole is famed for its abundant but migratory, elephant population thought to number around 120,000.  The elephants move as far as 200km from their dry season habitat around the Chobe and Linyanti rivers to the open pans in the south-east of the park, where they disperse after the rains.

Kasane - Chobe can be entered from the south or the north and one of the main points of entry is close to Kasane.  Based on the Chobe River, this small town offers a wide range of accommodation from camping to luxury lodges.  There is also a small shopping centre, banks, restaurants etc so for independent travellers a useful place to stop.  Nearby is also the border post for Kazungula Ferry for Zambia, road crossing for Zimbabwe and only a few kms away, the border for Namibia.

Salt Pans of Botswana
The major pans lie in the heart of the Kalahari - here's an introduction to some of the main ones

Makgadikgadi Pans - a complex of pans and the tarred road between Nata and Maun separate the main areas.  The Makgadikgadi is mainly found south of this road and the largest pans are Ntwetwe and Sowa Pan, the smaller ones being Kudiakam and Nxai Pan (situated in its own National Park), north of the road.  Lying at about 1000m above sea level on the great African Plateau the Reserve is approx 6,800square kilometres and is in the northern stretches of the Kalahari.  During years of good rain, all or part of the pans fill attracting abundant wildlife and hundreds of thousands of waterbirds alerted to the presence of water (how do they know when the water is there??) Flamingos come to breed from the coastline of Namibia and other areas, as well as pelicans and herons. 
The pans and desert endure an extremely hot, dry and harsh climate most of the year, dust bowls and dust devils (mini cyclone) carry the dust into the atmosphere and can be seen for miles.  The pans seem to stretch endlessly and mirages appear though often the haze turns out to be a wandering oryx.  Not far behind are huge herds of zebra, wildebeest followed by lions and other predators that follow the migration.   Shelter is sought under huge baobab trees by both man and animal in this sparse vegetation.

Lodges and camps are often located on the edge of the pans and you can spend a night sleeping under the stars or perhaps have an excursion onto the pan aboard a quad bike.  However, during the rainy season when the pans have flooded (or partly so) some activities may not be possible
 
The salt pans are not to everyone's liking - there is too much harshness and solitude for some, but for others the lingering smell and isolation lives on.

Kalahari Desert
The Kalahari desert covers some 900,000sq kms and spreads across 7 countries in southern Africa.  By far the largest part of this desert lies within Botswana, where it occupies about 70% of the national total land area.  Its name derives from the Tswana word Kgalagadi, meaning "great thirst".  The Central Kalahari Game Reserve(the world's second largest protected area)is 52,800km sq, and where much of our focus for the Kalahari lies.  The San people have lived in the Kalahari for 20,000 years as hunter-gatherers many camps will offer trips that involve the bushman at some level
The CKGR (as it's known), attracts animals such as springbok, oryx, and wildebeest in their thousands and is quite a sight to behold.  Predators are close on their heels with plentiful lions - especially the famous Kalahari black maned lion, cheetah, leopard and jackals.  Brown hyenas and wild dogs are also found in the area