Botswana – A Walk in the Bush
Botswana is one of the last
wilderness areas left in southern Africa. As a percentage of total surface area, Botswana
has allocated more land to national parks than most other African countries.
Chobe National Park is located in the north of Botswana, about 50 mi. (80 km.) from
Victoria Falls.
Chobe, which is the second largest national park in Botswana, covers 4080 sq. mi. (10 566
sq. km.)
The park covers a wide variety of country, from river forest, flood-plain and periodic
marsh to sporadic rocky outcrops. Such a diversity of habitats implies a wide variety of
wildlife from water animals like hippopotamus, crocodiles and fish to forest and dry land
species such as elephant, giraffe, buffalo, zebra as well as predators. Lion, leopard,
cheetah, wild dog and both species of hyena abound at Chobe.
A major feature of Chobe National Park is its elephant population. First of all, the Chobe
elephant comprise part of what is probably the largest surviving continuous elephant
population. This population covers most of northern Botswana plus north-western Zimbabwe
and is currently estimated at around 100 000. The Chobe River is known for its magnificent
bird viewing.
There are more than 400 species of birds in the Chobe National Park, ranging from Fish
Eagles to king-fishers Marabou storks to Carmine bee-eate
The Moremi Wildlife Reserve is located in North-Western Botswana covers more
than 380 sq. mi. (1000 sq. km.) of grassy flood plains in the north-eastern corner of the
Okavango Delta. Apart from savanna, the terrain includes winding waterways with banks of
reeds, palm-covered islands, thick forest and lush, lily-covered lagoons where hippos
bathe. With such a wide variety of vegetation comes an incredibly wide spectrum of wild
life. Huge herds of impala and tsessebe are always in the area, while in the dry season
large herds of buffalo, wildebeest and zebra flock into the park from the Kalahari in
search of food and water. The rare sitatunga and lechwe antelope live in the papyrus banks
of the waterways. Lions, cheetahs and packs of wild dogs hunt in the open grassland. The
reserve is home to an immense number of birds.
The Okavango Delta spreads throughout an area of some 6200 sq. mi. (16000 sq. km.), at
full flood.
Each summer, floods pour down from the highlands of Angola into the Okavango River and
flow on through a vast network of narrow waterways, lagoons and broad expanses of the
Okavango Delta to dissipate in the sands of the Kalahari.
Okavango is frequently called a swamp, but for, the most part, its waters are beautifully
clear and blue. Most of the Okavango waters are soaked up by the desert, or evaporate. The
floods reach their peak in May, covering vast grass flats and making thousands of islands
out of tree-covered ridges of land. Thick papyrus grows everywhere and, in the northern
parts of the delta, chokes the waterways so that they are impenetrable except by canoes.
In the parts of the delta where there is perennial water there are large numbers of
crocodiles, hippos and buffaloes. Animals like the sitatunga, lechwe and Chobe bushbuck,
which have adapted themselves to the conditions of reed and water, live on the islands
