Botswana safari | Moremi wildreservaat
Equal in size to Switzerland, the Okavango Delta is the largest inland river delta in the world. In the dry season, autumn and winter, this enormous area of water in the middle of the desert is nourished by rainfall that travels down the Okavango River from Angola. The result is a surprisingly beautiful labyrinth of lagoons, swamps and islands which disappear from view when the delta floods. To the east of the Okavango Delta lies the Moremi Game Reserve, one of the most breathtaking areas of wilderness in the world.
When Tony and Maureen Wheeler sold the Lonely Planet to the BBC, The Guardian newspaper asked them to name 25 unmissable locations. Remarkably, their list included only one location in Africa: the Okavango Delta.
From the air, the fascinating tangle of blues, greens and yellows make the Okavango Delta in Botswana have the appearance of the palette of an irrepressible watercolourist. This unique landscape attracts a large diversity of animals, with no less than 160 mammals, including elephants, rhinoceros, buffalos, crocodiles, lions and cheetahs; as well as 400 varieties of birds.
Nevertheless, the emphasis in the Okavango Delta is not so much on the typical types of safari activities (entrance for 4x4s is quite limited), but on the nature itself. The best way to discover this breathtaking nature is on foot, or during journeys across the water in mokoros (canoes that were originally made from dug-out tree trunks, but are more often than not made from fibreglass nowadays in order to spare the trees). Since the water is merely a metre deep in some places, a long pole is used to push the canoe forward. You will sail among water lilies, brightly coloured dragonflies and through banks covered in papyrus plants; and with a bit of luck and patience you might even see a sitatunga -a member of the eland family that lives in the water.
On morning walks you will hear the song of thousands birds and smell the aroma of wild sage, while your eyes struggle to take in everything and your camera comes to the rescue by recording these sights on film.
You will find plenty of game in the Moremi Game Reserve, which is located in the eastern part of the Okavango Delta. As a result of the Tswana people declaring Moremi a game reserve in 1963, it has managed to maintain its status as one of the most spectacular wildlife reserves in the world. The Moremi Game Reserve is made up of a 3000 km2-network of lily-covered floodplains, grasslands and woodlands that encircle Chiefs Island and the island of Mopane Tongue. Moremi has many different ecosystems, from dense river forests and reed-lined floodplains to mopane and dry savanna woodlands. There is little chance of you meeting other visitors here, even in the high season. However, the various ecosystems naturally attract a large number of different animals, as well as 550 different varieties of birds.
In the ‘wet' areas of the Moremi Game Reserve you can take mokoro excursions, which will enable you to truly absorb the incredible nature - the papyrus swamps, the water lilies, the birds. The sand-filtered crystal clear waters allow you to see straight to the bottom of the shallow waterways.
The dry areas can only be visited by open Land Rovers.
