Okavango Delta
The Okavango Delta is home to many elephants and other creatures.
NASA view of Okavango Delta
The Okavango Delta (or Okavango Swamp), in Botswana, is the world's largest inland delta.
- "Where all this water goes is a mystery", Aurel Schultz, 1897
The area was once part of Lake Makgadikgadi, an ancient lake that dried up some 10,000 years ago. Today, the Okavango River has no outlet to the sea. Instead, it empties onto the sands of the Kalahari Desert, irrigating 15,000 km² of the desert. Some of this water reaches further south to create Lake Ngami. The Okavango Delta is home to a prosperity of wildlife and attracts thousands of visitors a year.
The Namibian government presented plans to build a dam in the Caprivi region to regulate the water-flow. This could be the end for the rich wild and plantlife in the Delta.