Bokmakierie

Touring Botswana and the Caprivi
Strip
Text and Photos by Anthony Cavanagh
The Okavango Delta in Botswana is a jewel in the dry Kalahari and its life-giving
waters create one of Africa’s greatest concentrations of wildlife. Summer rains in the
Angolan highlands drain into the Okavango River, which flows 1 200 km south into the
flat arid area of northern Botswana, eventually spreading out and covering an area
up to 15 000 square kilometres during the peak flood between June and August.
Although not the largest inland delta in Africa, the magnificence of the Okavango
Delta helped in it being named one of the Seven Natural Wonders of Africa and also a
World Heritage site.
One of the many elephants encountered
Sue and Anthony together with friends Gavin and Joan
In July Sue and I, together with friends Gavin and Joan, embarked on a tour of Botswana
and after spending a few days in Gaborone and also visiting the Magadikgadi
Pan we arrived in Maun situated on the edge of the Delta. We stayed at Audi Camp a
few km north of the town and booked a boat trip for the following day. The floodwaters
flowed strongly in the channel overlooked by the camp and once the four of us
were aboard the boat, our pilot headed upstream towards the wide-open wetlands of
the Delta. The birdlife is stunning and some of the species we saw included Swamp
Boubou, African Golden Weaver, Coppery-tailed Coucal, Slaty Egret, African Openbill,
African Pygmy Goose and Saddle-billed Stork. Elephants were plentiful as were the
Lechwe.
16 | Bokmakierie December 2016 No 247