OKAVANGO DELTA SAVUTE AND MOREMI

OKAVANGO DELTA AND MOREMI NATIONAL PARK

The Okavango Delta boasts with the title of the world’s biggest inland delta. It was created during the early Holocene, a geological period that started almost 12 000 years ago when geological activity and tectonic shifts caused the ancient giant Lake Makgadigadi to dry up. The Okavango Delta is situated in Botswana, but its water source lies in the western part of Angola. The Cubango River flows into Namibia - where it’s called the Kavango River - and then into Botswana, where we know it as the Okavango River.

The ecology of the delta is fragile and depends on Angola’s annual rain season from October to April. Because the terrain is relatively flat, the floodwaters arriving from Angola takes its time to get across the Okavango Delta. These waters only reach the lower part of the delta, near Maun, in July. Eventually the water reaches the Botetle River and ends up in the Kalahari Desert, where most of it evaporates.

The floods put the life back in the Okavango Delta. Elephants, lions, wild dogs, hyenas, buffalos, rhinos, hippos and crocodiles, as well as antelope such as sitatunga and red lechwe, join the smaller animals (bush babies, monkeys, warthogs, tree squirrels and spotted genets) on the mainland and on the various little islands of the Delta. The best time for game viewing in the Okavango Delta in Botswana is from May to October, while birding is at its best from November to April. See the African Fish Eagle (with its evocative cry), crested crane, sacred ibis and many more in their natural habitat. The Okavango Delta is also a fisherman’s paradise, with approximately 71 species occupying its waters. Here you can land a prize tiger fish or bream and experience the annual barbell run.

Okavango Delta boast luxury accommodation, luxury safari camp such as Eagle Island lodge, Camp Okuti, Khwai River Lodge, Camp Moremi, Delta Camp, Oddballs and Xakanaxa as accommodation in the Okavango Delta.

A visit to the delta won’t be complete without a visit to the Chobe National Park in the northwest of Botswana. There are numerous lodges and hotels in the Chobe and Kasane region but only a few as affordable as The Big Five Chobe (Toro) Lodge in Kazangulu, only 8 km from the main entrance gate. Recently Toro came under new management and improved services are on the horizon, after a number of tourists aired their grievances over bad service. From Toro it is only 85 km to Victoria Falls. where accommodation such as A’Zambezi River Lodge along the Zambezi River or the newer and more central Kingdom Hotel will be your answer. Most people visiting the Okavango Delta and Moremi combine it with a few days at Victoria Falls.

 

The lodges in the Okavango Delta are rather expensive and most visitors therefore prefer to camp. If you are on a self-drive safari you will need a high quality 4x4 vehicle. The Okavango is Toyota Land cruiser territory and the best place to hire a Land cruiser 4x4 might be from Maun 4x4 hire in Kasane or Maun.


If you do a self-drive to Botswana from Cape Town, you will need accommodation on-route. The Kambro self-catering (self-contained) accommodation offers affordable accommodation on a farm near Britstown. A very pleasant trip is to drive via Upington in the Northern Cape along the Trans Kgalagadi Highway to the Okavango Delta. If you choose this route you can overnight in lodges such as Kalahari Monate Lodge or Upington Country Lodge in or near Upington about halfway between Cape Town and Maun which is the gateway to the Okavango Delta. You can also drive via Namibia in which case Grunau Lodge will be about halfway.