Whales, Wildlife & Wilderness                                                                                                                                                 Pam & Wayne Osborn

Botswana Maps

The Panhandle, Okavango Delta & Linyanti

 

The fringing fingers of the Okavango River delta can be clearly seen in this aerial image. Parallel fault lines in the earth's crust block the river's flow and the water flushes life into in the Kalahari sands.

 

Upstream of the delta to the northwest, the 70 kilometres of river as it enters from Namibia's Caprivi Strip is known as the Panhandle.

 

The Linyanti region lies to the north of the delta.  Here the Kwando, Linyanti rivers and the Savuti Channel meet. Chobe national Park lies to the south. Namibia's Caprivi Strip borders the Kwando and Linyanti Rivers.

Makgadikgadi Pans

 

The Makgadikgadi Pans lie at the centre of the great prehistoric lake basin. At 12,000 square kilometres, these are amongst the world's largest salt pans.  There is no vegetation on the surface and the pans fill with water after rains. These are fringed with grasslands that flourish after rain and attract herds of wildebeest and zebra.

Northern Botswana

The red dots show the safari camps we have used during our Botswana travels.  Maun is the centre for safari travel and has been our hub for both trips.  All the camps are serviced by light aircraft from Maun and have their own dirt strips.

 

The flying can be an adventure in itself.  We were caught by wind shear on take off from Lebala and were most grateful the elephants have conveniently trimmed the mopane forest at the end of the runway.

 

Mashatu lies on the Limpopo and Shashe Rivers close to the South African and Zimbabwe borders.