Botswana
Places to Visit

Over 17% of Botswana's land area is reserved as national parks and game reserves. Great areas of wilderness have been set aside to offer visitors the experience of seeing natural areas and incredible wildlife. The experiences vary from the water and greeness of the Okavango Delta in the north to red desert dunes in the south.

In the national parks and game reserves areas have been set aside in which visitors may camp. Access to parks and reserves has been limited so that visitors are not crowded and can fully enjoy a wilderness experience. For that reason, advance bookings for campsites are necessary.

The Okavango River starts in the mountains of Angola flows into and spreads out over the sandy Kalahari. It forms a wonderful huge delta and floodplain.

The Okavango Delta is a large marsh area. It is a half water, half grass maze of waterways, lagoons, islands and flood plains at the northern edge of the Kalahari Desert. Shifts in the earth's surface forced the Okavango River, the third largest in Africa, away from its natural path to the ocean and created the biggest inland delta in the world. The number and variety of wildlife is among the largest to be seen anywhere in Africa.The clear waters support a huge number of birds and plants. The best way to get around is by a traditional dugout canoe, a mokoro.There are a number of safari camps and lodges in the area for visitors.

This wilderness area, together with the nearby Moremi Game Reserve and Chobe National Park offer wonderful experiences for people who enjoy watching birds and animals, fishing, exploring wild places. The Moremi Wildlife Reserve is one of the best game reserves in Africa.

Animals that can be seen in these areas include elephant, buffalo, lion, leopard, cheetah, hippo, rhino, kudu, crocodile, and the rarely seen sitatunga, a shy antelope that is often in the water.

 Click here to find out more about the sitatunga
http://www.awf.org/content/wildlife/detail/sitatunga

Wildebeest running on the savanna

Chobe National Park is north of the Delta The savanna grasslands of this National Park are famous for the large number of elephants and white rhinoceros that roam there, as well as buffalo, hippopotamus, wildebeest and antelopes.

Southeast of the Delta are the enormous Makgadikgadi salt pans, the biggest in the world. These were once a vast lake that covered north and central Botswana. In the rainy season much of it is covered with water and is visited by hundreds of thousands of different waterbirds. Large flocks of flamingoes gather on the salt pans.

Located in the Tsodilo Hills, west of the Okavango Delta, is the most extensive examples of rock art in the world. These ancient rock paintings were made by the San. Some of the paintings are huge and others are so tiny they seem to be secret and hidden.

Acknowledge this source in your bibliography like this:
Botswana (2004). [Online], Available: www.kidcyber.com.au

Updated/checked May 2007