Botswana

With an area of 581,730 km2, almost 70% of the Southern African country is located in the vast Kalahari Desert, a semidesert region which covers 900,000 km2 and extends mainly into Namibia and South Africa, bordering Zimbabwe in the east, South Africa in the south and Namibia in the northwest.

The Kalahari is locally known as Kgalagadi, which means – “place without water” – and, to the north it meets the margins of the Okavango Delta.

Its main natural destinations are the Okavango Delta, Chobe National Park, Nxai Pan and Makgadigadi National Parks, and the Central Kalahari National Reserve.

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Okavango Delta

The Delta extends over 16,000 km² and reaches a total area of 26,660 km². It is formed from the outflow of the Okavango River into flood zones, which, in turn, originates in the plateaus of Angola and flows 1,300 km to reach the Delta. The water reaching Botswana corresponds to the increased flow due to seasonal rains in Angola, several months before reaching the Delta.

The Okavango is transformed into numerous channels which flow in different directions, generating what is known as the Delta. This is formed by Kalahari sands and is a flat surface with small elevated areas that constitute islands (about 150,000).

From an ecological perspective, the transit of megaherbivores such as elephants and hippos is fundamental since it facilitates the flow of water through the dense aquatic vegetation, which allows various species of fish to move through these openings or small channels.

The Delta is home to 122 species of mammals and 445 species of birds. The climate is divided into rainy and dry seasons, the latter occurs when the Delta is flooded. The average annual rainfall is 500 mm.