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Our primary interest on this first trip to Botswana was to visit the Okavango Delta.  We decided to travel to a Camp Okavango, accessible only via small aircraft, located in the heart of the Delta.

The Okavango Delta, the largest inland delta in the world, covers over 60,000 square miles of crystal clear water, wooded islands, grass-covered floodplains and vast reed and papyrus beds, and is in itself a unique and fascinating ecosystem.  Instead of finding its way to the ocean as most rivers do, the Okavango River, which originates in the Angolan highlands, fans out into a vast system of thousands of waterways, separated by countless islands, to eventually disappear into the Kalahari sands.

 The Delta's wildlife is extremely varied and includes most of the species found in Moremi and Chobe.  Hippopotamus are common and from a boat there is a chance to see the elusive Sitatunga, a swamp dwelling antelope.  The Lechwe, another antelope adapted to marshy areas, also occurs here and is active mainly in the morning and late afternoon.

Many people, however, visit the Delta to observe its birdlife, as more than 400 species have been recorded here.  Some species you may see are the wattled crane, Pel's fishing owl, slaty egret, Hartlaub's babbler, chirping cisticola and the coppery-tailed coucal.  Fish eagles are common and there are also 16 species of herons, egrets and bitterns.

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