Page 68 - Discover Botswana 2021

Above: Driven by thirst and grazing, Zebras
of the Makgadikgadi migration will wonder hundreds of kilometers in search of both. These Zebras were arriving on the Boteti River having moved away from this only available water source for as many as 5 days before coming in to drink. (Image: Janine Krayer)
Facing Page Top: Bird life around the few water holes in the Kalahari is numerous. A shaft-tailed whydah quickly gets a drink before being disturbed by a herd of in coming Impalas. (Image: Janine Krayer)
Facing Page Insert: Available surface water is
a scarce commodity in the dry Kalahari. A herd of Giraffes wait patiently for their turn to take a drink at a water hole in Nxai Pan National Park. (Image: Janine Krayer)
to what was possibly the largest mammal migration on earth. Hundreds of thousands of zebra and wildebeest trekked between the Okavango/Chobe water systems and the seasonal grasslands of the Makgadikgadi basin. During the 1960s a series of fences was erected across northern Botswana with the purpose of separating livestock from wildlife, these fences sadly stopped the great flow of animals. 2006 saw some parts of these fences reopened, which, together with good rains over the last few years, has revived the movement of zebra. This is quite a miracle considering the average zebra lives for about 12 years, meaning those that are travelling now have absolutely no
memory of the routes taken by their ancestors. Today, the 250 km journey takes the animals an estimated 30 days of plodding. They remain in the salt pans for the rainy months of December, January and February, before slowly returning on a circular route home. The round journey of nearly 1000 kms makes it the longest mammal migration in Africa. It is thought that the time spent in the Kalahari allows the zebra to benefit from grasses that have higher concentrations of proteins and
minerals than those in the swamps.
Due to the open, rolling grasslands, the
migration is becoming a spectacular natural event to observe. Once again, it proves the
68 www.discoverbotswanathebook.biz