Okavango Delta Safaris Tourism Information

Quick Facts: Okavango Delta Safaris

• Seasonal flooding creates the Okavango Delta in Botswana
• The Okavango River drains the summer rainfall from the Angola highlands, and the surge flows 1,200 kilometres
• Over the next four months (March-June), the waters then spread over the 250 km by 150 km region of the Okavango Delta
• The Okavango Delta is very flat with less than 2 metres variation in height across its 15,000 km²
• Annually about 11 cubic kilometres which are approximately 11,000,000,000,000 litres of water flow into the Okavango Delta

Introducing Okavango Delta Safaris

The Okavango Delta in Botswana, Southern Africa, is created by seasonal flooding. The Okavango River drains the summer (January-February) rainfall from the Angola highlands, and the surge flows 1,200 kilometres. The waters then spread over the 250 km by 150 km region of the Okavango Delta in Botswana over the next four months (March-June). The high temperature of the delta causes rapid transpiration and evaporation of the water, resulting in a cycle of rising and falling water level. 

The flood peaks between June and August, during Botswana’s dry winter months, when the delta swells to three times its permanent size, attracting animals from miles around and creating one of Africa’s greatest concentrations of wildlife.  The Okavango Delta in Botswana is very flat, with less than 2 metres variation in height across its 15,000 km².

Every year about 11 cubic kilometres which is approximately 11,000,000,000,000 litres of water flow into the Okavango Delta in Botswana. About 60% of this water is consumed through transpiration by plants, 36% by evaporation, 2% percolates into the aquifer system while 2% flows into the Lake Ngami. This turgid outflow means that the Okavango Delta is unable to flush out the minerals carried by the river and is liable to become increasingly salty and uninhabitable.  This effect is reduced by the low salt content which collects around the roots of the plants. The low salinity of the water also means that the floods do not significantly enrich the floodplain with nutrients.

Salt Islands of the Okavango Delta

The agglomeration of salt around plant roots in the Okavango Delta results in many of the thousands of islands having barren white patches in their centre, which have become too salty to support plants, aside from the odd salt resistant palm tree. Trees and grasses grow in the sand near the edges of the islands of the Okavango Delta that has yet to become too salty.  About 70% of the islands began as termite mounds where a tree then takes root on the mound of earth.

Chief’s Island in the Okavango Delta of Botswana

Chief’s Island is the largest island in the Okavango Delta.  Chief's Island was formed by a fault line which uplifted an area over 70 km long and 15 km wide. Historically it was reserved as an exclusive hunting area for the chief. It now provides the core area for much of the resident wildlife when the waters rise.

Wildlife in Botswana's Okavango Delta

The Okavango Delta is both a permanent and seasonal home to a wide variety of wildlife.  Animal species which can be found here include the African Elephant, the African Buffalo, Hippopotamus, Lechwe, Topi, Blue Wildebeest, Giraffe, Nile Crocodile, Lion, Cheetah, Leopard, Brown Hyena, Spotted Hyena, Greater Kudu, Sable Antelope, Black Rhinoceros, White Rhinoceros, Plains Zebra, Warthog and Chacma Baboon.

The majority of the large mammals in and around the Okavango Delta are not year round residents. They leave with the summer rains to find renewed fields of grass to graze on and trees to browse, then make their way back as winter approaches. Large herds of buffalo and elephant total about 30,000 beasts.

Botswana's Lechwe antelope

The most populous large mammal in the Okavango Delta, Botswana, is the lechwe antelope, with more than 60,000 of them.  The Lechwe antelope is a little bigger than an impala and has a water repellent substance on their legs which enables rapid movement through knee deep water. The Lechwe antelope graze on aquatic plants and, like Waterbuck, take to water when threatened by predators.