Okavango Delta - Citizendia

Typical region in the Okavango Delta, with a rag rug of free canals and lakes, swamps and islands

Elephants in the Okavango Delta seen from a makoro (small boat). A makoro (also spelt mekoro, mokoro) is a type of Canoe commonly used in the Okavango Delta, Botswana.

A buffalo herd in the Southern part of the Okavango Delta.

A Lechwe Antelope "flying" over a patch of clear water

NASA view of Okavango Delta

The Okavango Delta viewed from a Cessna at 1,200 ft. The Lechwe, or Southern Lechwe, ( Kobus leche) is an Antelope found in Botswana, Zambia, south-eastern Democratic Republic Antelope are Ruminant hoofed Mammals of the family Bovidae in the order of Even-toed ungulates.

The Okavango Delta (or Okavango Swamp), in Botswana, is the world's largest inland delta. The Republic of Botswana (Lefatshe la Botswana is a Landlocked nation in Southern Africa. A delta is a Landform where the mouth of a River flows into an Ocean, Sea, Estuary, Lake or another river

The area was once part of Lake Makgadikgadi, an ancient lake that dried up some 10,000 years ago. Lake Makgadikgadi is an ancient Lake that existed in what is now the Kalahari Desert in Botswana. Today, the Okavango River has no outlet to the sea. The Okavango River is a River in southwest Africa. It is the fourth-longest river system in southern Africa running southeastward for 1600 km (1000 miles Instead, it empties onto the sands of the Kalahari Desert, irrigating 15,000 km² of the desert. Each year some 11 cubic kilometres of water reach the delta. Some of this water reaches further south to create Lake Ngami. Lake Ngami is an Endorheic Lake in Botswana north of the Kalahari Desert.

The waters of the Okavango Delta are subject to seasonal flooding, which begins about mid-summer in the north and six months later in the south (May/June). The water from the delta is evaporated relatively rapidly by the high temperatures, resulting in a cycle of cresting and dropping water in the south. Islands can disappear completely during the peak flood, then reappear at the end of the season. This process of evaporation was badly understood as late as the early 20th century:

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"Where all this water goes is a mystery", Aurel Schultz, 1897

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The water entering the delta is unusually pure, due to the lack of agriculture and industry along the Okavango River. Year 1897 ( MDCCCXCVII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common It passes through the sand aquifers of the numerous delta islands and evaporates/transpirates by leaving enormous quantities of salt behind. Salt is a Dietary mineral composed primarily of Sodium chloride that is essential for Animal life but toxic to most land plants These precipitation processes are so strong that the vegetation disappears in the center of the islands and thick salt crusts are formed.

1 People
2 Wildlife
- 2.1 Hydropower proposals
3 Gallery
4 Further reading
5 References
6 External links

People

The Okavango Delta peoples consist of five ethnic groups, each with its own ethnic identity and language. They are Hambukushu (also known as Mbukushu, Bukushu, Bukusu, Mbukuschu, Ghuva, Haghuva), Dceriku (Dxeriku, Diriku, Gciriku, Gceriku, Giriku, Niriku), Wayeyi (Bayei, Bayeyi, Yei), Bugakhwe (Kxoe, Khwe, Kwengo, Barakwena, G/anda) and ||anikhwe (Gxanekwe, //tanekwe, River Bushmen, Swamp Bushmen, G//ani, //ani, Xanekwe). The Hambukushu, Dceriku, and Wayeyi are all Bantus who have traditionally engaged in mixed economies of millet/sorghum agriculture; fishing, hunting, and the collection of wild plant foods; and pastoralism. Bantu may refer to Bantu expansion, a series of migrations of Bantu speakers Bantu languages Bantu people

The Bugakhwe and ||anikwhe are Bushmen who have traditionally practiced fishing, hunting, and the collection of wild plant foods; Bugakhwe utilized both forest and riverine resources while the ||anikhwe mostly focused on riverine resources. The Bushmen, San, Sho, Basarwa, ǃKung or Khwe are indigenous people of southern Africa that spans most areas of South Africa The Hambukushu, Dceriku, and Bugakhwe are present along the Okavango River in Angola and in the Caprivi Strip of Namibia, and there are small numbers of Hambukushu and Bugakhwe in Zambia as well. Caprivi, sometimes called the Caprivi Strip (in German Caprivizipfel) or the Okavango Strip and formally known as Itenge, is a narrow protrusion Within the Okavango Delta, over the past 150 years or so Hambukushu, Dceriku, and Bugakhwe have inhabited the Panhandle and the Magwegqana in the northeastern Delta. ||anikhwjjje have inhabited the Panhandle and the area along the Boro River through the Delta, as well as the area along the Boteti River.

The Wayeyi have inhabited the area around Seronga as well as the southern Delta around Maun, and a few Wayeyi live in their putative ancestral home in the Caprivi Strip. Seronga is a village in North-West District, Botswana. It is located close to beginning of the Okavango Delta, and has a local airstrip Maun is the fifth largest town in Botswana. It is an eclectic mix of modern buildings and native huts Within the past 20 years many people from all over the Okavango have migrated to Maun, ur gay the late 1960s and early 1970s over 4,000 Hambukushu refugees from Angola were settled in the area around Etsha in the western Panhandle.

The Okavango Delta has been under the political control of the Batawana (a Tswana sub-tribe) since the late 1700s. Tswana ( Motswana, plural Batswana) is the name of a Southern African people Most Batawana, however, have traditionally lived on the edges of the Delta. Small numbers of people from other ethnic groups such as Ovaherero and Ovambanderu now live in parts of the Okavango Delta, but since the majority of the members of those groups live elsewhere and the habitation is recent they are not considered as part of the Okavango Delta peoples. There are also several Bushmen groups represented by a handful of people. These groups were decimated by diseases of contact in the middle part of the 20th century, and most of the remaining members have intermarried with the ||anikwhe.

Wildlife

The Okavango is home to a prosperity of wildlife and attracts thousands of visitors a year. There are camps within the delta region that cater to these visitors.

The delta provides a seasonal habitat to numerous different species. Among these are African elephants, the African Buffalo, the Hippopotamus, the Lechwe, the Topi, the Blue Wildebeest, the Giraffe, the Nile crocodile, the Lion, the Cheetah, the Leopard, Brown and Spotted hyenas, African Wild Dogs, the Greater Kudu, the Sable Antelope, both the Black and the White Rhinoceros, the water monitor, Plains (Burchell's) zebras, the Warthog and then chacma baboon. African elephants are the species of Elephants in the Genus Loxodonta, one of the two existing genera in Elephantidae. The African Buffalo or Cape Buffalo ( Syncerus caffer) is a large African bovid. The hippopotamus ( Hippopotamus amphibius) from the Greek ἱπποπόταμος ( hippopotamos, ιππος hippos meaning "horse" The Lechwe, or Southern Lechwe, ( Kobus leche) is an Antelope found in Botswana, Zambia, south-eastern Democratic Republic This article is about the antelope For the town see Topi (town. The Blue Wildebeest ( Connochaetes taurinus) is a large Ungulate mammal of the Bovid family and one of two species of Wildebeest. The giraffe ( Giraffa camelopardalis) is an African Even-toed ungulate Mammal, the tallest of all land-living Animal Species The Nile crocodile ( Crocodylus niloticus) is an African Reptile of the family Crocodylidae. The lion ( Panthera leo) is a member of the family Felidae and one of four Big cats in the Genus Panthera. The cheetah ( Acinonyx jubatus) is an atypical member of the cat family ( Felidae) that is unique in its speed while lacking climbing abilities The leopard (lɛpɚd Panthera pardus) is an Old World Mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four roaring The African wild dog ( Lycaon pictus) is a carnivorous mammal of the Canidae family found only in Africa, especially in scrub Savanna The Greater Kudu ( Tragelaphus strepsiceros) is a Woodland Antelope found throughout eastern and southern Africa. The Sable Antelope ( Hippotragus niger) is an Antelope which inhabits wooded savannah in East Africa south of Kenya, and in The Black Rhinoceros ( Diceros bicornis) also colloquially Black Rhino, is a species of Rhinoceros, native to the eastern and central areas of Africa The White Rhinoceros or Square-lipped rhinoceros ( Ceratotherium simum) is one of the five species of Rhinoceros that still exist and is one of the few For large firefighting devices see Fire monitor. The Water monitor, Varanus salvator is a large species of Monitor lizard The warthog or common warthog ( Phacochoerus africanus, "African Lens-Pig" is a wild member of the pig family that lives in Africa The Chacma Baboon ( Papio ursinus) also known as the Cape Baboon, is like all other Baboons from the Old World monkey family The delta also includes over 400 species of birds, including the African Fish Eagle, the Crested Crane, the Lilac Breasted Roller, the Hamerkop, Common Ostrich, and the Sacred Ibis. The African Fish Eagle ( Haliaeetus vocifer)or - to distinguish it from the Ichthyophaga true fish eagles African Sea Eagle - is a large species of The Grey Crowned Crane ( Balearica regulorum) is a bird in the crane family Gruidae. The Sacred Ibis ( Threskiornis aethiopicus) is a species of wading Bird of the Ibis family Threskiornithidae which breeds in sub-Saharan

Hydropower proposals

The Namibian government have presented plans to build a hydropower station in the Caprivi region, which would regulate the Okavango's flow to at least some extent. Hydropower, hydraulic power or water power is power that is derived from the Force or Energy of moving water which may While proponents argue that the effect would be minimal, environmentalists argue that this project could destroy most of the rich wildlife and plantlife in the Delta. ^[1] The proposal also a prime examples of the potential for cross-border conflicts over water use.

Gallery

Mokoro trip in the Okavango Delta	Water lillies in the delta	Girl gathering food in the Okavango Delta	Waiting for the hippos in the delta
Hippos as seen from a small boat in the Okavango	A pair of Saddle-billed Storks	Hyperolius argus (Reed Frog) in the Okavango Delta