Page 53 - Discover Botswana 2022 ONLINE

The first time we flew the Okavango, the moment our wheels left the sand and we rose above the tree line, a psychedelic maze of lush, vegetated channels and swamplands miraculously swept out before us... small pearlescent islands dotted the shimmering floodplains, hippos languished in crystal pools and lechwe bounded across the floodplains. Then, suddenly it felt like the Okavango had taken a long deep breath and slowly exhaled elephants. They appeared out of the palm lined fringes, wading through the water as graceful and majestic as galleons on the high seas. They drifted effortlessly across the watery wonderland pushing bow waves of sparkling water out before them, and that was the moment we fell in love. The Okavango, with her sheer wildness and freedom, captivated us from that first moment, and she continues to do so more than a decade later.
Previous pages: With the smell of rain on the horizon, a herd of wildebeest set forth valiantly across the endless white plains of the Makgadikgadi in search of water.
Facing page: The sun-seared salt pans of the Makgadikgadi for the most part appear incapable of supporting life. However, during the rainy season when the pans fill up and sand is replaced with grasslands, they become one of the most important wetland areas of Botswana and attract a mind- boggling array of wildlife.
Below: As graceful and majestic as galleons on the high seas, two elephants follow a deep-water channel across the sedge grass meadows of the Okavango Delta.
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