Namibie | Caprivistrook | wandelende vrouwen
The Caprivi Strip is in the north-east of Namibia, between the Chobe region of Botswana, Angola and Zambia. This is where you will find riverine forests, flood plains and Baobab trees - a very different environment than you would expect in Namibia. It's a beautiful area to drive through and visits to parks such as Mudumu and Mamili are more than worthwhile. During your stay here, you will hardly be able to believe that this country also has such a high degree of aridity!
The Caprivi Strip is the wettest part of Namibia. Not only does the majority of rainfall occur here, but there is also a confluence in this area of several large rivers that rise in and flow down from Angola. The large number of birds and wild animals that come here for the water are protected in no less than four reserves. Since the game reserves are not fenced off, the animals are able to roam insouciantly across to Zambia and Botswana.
The Caprivi Strip, which was once created as an access road from Victoria Falls to Namibia, is a rather peculiar area. Certain parts of the western section resemble the Okavanga Delta and at the eastern point the three countries of Namibia, Botswana and Zambia meet. The landscape is similar to that of Botswana's Kwando Linyanti, although with less game. This makes a stay in the eastern end of the Caprivi Strip a lot cheaper, but certainly very worthwhile. Fortunately it recently became possible again to drive through the Caprivi Strip, from Victoria Falls or Chobe National Park, to Etosha Game Park, and vice versa. The Caprivi Strip is not overrun by tourists and the local people support themselves through fishing and hunting. These people use mokoros, which are dug-out tree trunks, as their means of transport.
The Kwando River meanders through the tropical surroundings of Mudumu National Park, which is a perfect example of African nature, with riverine forests, swamps, savannahs and mopane woods. Here you will be able to see zebra, antelope, crocodile and elephant, in addition to the rare sitatunga and red lechwe. In the south of Mudumu National Park, the Kwando River branches off into a capricious network of small rivers that together form Linyanti Swamp.
In the eastern part of the Caprivi Strip, in between the Kwando and Linyanti rivers, lies Mamili National Park. This is Namibia's version of the Okavango Delta in Botswana. It is fairly swampy and as a result almost impassable, but for those who are willing to make the effort a wealth of beautiful flood plains, reed beds and swamps await them. The park is inhabited by buffalo, giraffe, puku, sitatunga, red lechwe, otters and of course crocodiles and hippos. This is a great place for bird spotters, as no less than 430 different bird species have been identified here, which is around three-quarters of all bird species found in Namibia.
Popa Falls are located in a beautiful landscape found in the western part of the Caprivi Strip. The ‘falls' are actually more like rapids than real waterfalls and are caused by a rocky narrowing of the Okavango River, which divides up and flows further southwards in Botswana. Here it forms the start of the Okavango Delta.
