Page 19 - Discover Botswana 2021

If there is one place in the world where I would like to get lost, it is in the Okavango Delta, with its vast patchwork mosaic of channels, floodplains, lagoons and thousands upon thousands of islands to explore. The best way to do this is on a “mokoro”, the traditional dug-out canoe used throughout the delta, propelled through the shallows with a long pole called an Nkashi. There is
almost nowhere you cannot go if you follow the water and avoid hippos. Our head poler for mokoro expeditions, Gobonamang Kgeto, who is a Wayeyi elder and experienced mokoro poler, puts it like this : “We don’t know exactly where we are going, but we know we will get there together”. The National Geographic Okavango Wilderness Project and the Botswana Wild Bird Trust aim to rekindle this sense of exploration and freedom in a wilderness beyond comparison.
Since 2010, our expedition team has explored and scientifically- surveyed all major rivers and channels in the Okavango and Kwando River Basins, poling or paddling a staggering 9,770km in our fully- loaded 18-foot mokoros. Along the way, we have discovered 48 species new to science and over 80 currently being described as new species to science. Most of these were found around previously-undocumented source lakes in the little-known Angolan highlands, and are now all under the research spotlight. Moving down the rivers and channels, closely observing every inch of them, made us very aware that the “Okavango” is one vast ecosystem from the source right down to where its waters reach into the sands of the Kalahari Desert. The enigmatic Okavango Delta itself, in representing this, reflects the health of the entire river system.
In 2019, the mokoro expedition, already completed nine times through the heart of the delta, was impossible for the first time in over a decade. Due to insufficient regional rains, there was almost no flood that year, resulting in the southern Jao-Boro channel and the Thamalakane
OKAVANGO
Previous pages: The Okavango Delta is home to large herds of buffalo who have adapted to the wet conditions to cross into new area of grazing. (Image: Kai Collins)
Previous pages: The 2019 Okavango expedition experienced frequent intense interactions with Hippos as the water
levels were low, making it difficult at times to pass by in our mokoros. (Image: Kostadin Luchansky)
Facing Page: Undertaking scientific surveys and research in these remote areas via mokoro gives us a different viewpoint of the wildlife and landscape. (Image: Kostadin Luchansky)
Below: Birds are one of the keystone species we monitor over the years to determine biodiversity hotspots throughout the delta. The pink backed pelicans are wonderful to see as they flock above the delta. (Image: Kostadin Luchansky)
www.discoverbotswanathebook.biz 19