A lifeline in an arid landscape - the Okavango Delta, Botswana
The Okavango Delta ! For 50,000 years, animals and people have depended on this inland delta. None of the water reaching the Delta from its tributaries reaches any ocean or sea. It all evaporates, is consumed through transpiration by plants, or goes underground into the aquifer. Flooding peaks between June and August, and we visited in June. The water was JUST beginning to rise. This water is a magnet for wildlife. Satellite image of the Okavango Delta, with national borders added. Ironically, on the KLM flight from San Francisco to Amsterdam to Johannesburg, we were offered a number of movie selections, and one was Into the Okavango , a movie where explorers went on a four-month, 2400 kilometer (1500 mile) expedition across three countries to understand the Delta from its source to its termination. On the return trip, when I watched the movie again, I recognized most of the bird species! African jacana . This ...