The Okavango Delta
An oasis in Botswana’s Kalahari Desert. Natural. Beautiful. When a river empties into an inland desert, life abounds. A life-giving, annual flood, that is one of Nature’s greatest events.
The Okavango is unique, a wildlife paradise that never ceases to amaze.
What to expect…
Cries of the African Fish Eagle, incredible, lingering, golden light and majestic palm trees with elephants is often what springs to mind when thinking about the Delta. This landscape is a true oasis and has some of the greatest and most beautiful photographic opportunities for wildlife anywhere on the continent.
Unique animals like lechwe, sitatunga and others make this wetland their home together with some of Africa’s best concentrations of African Wild Dogs - arguably the best place to see and photograph these incredible and highly endangered animals.
Look out for the stunningly beautiful sable antelope with its dark colouring and white eyeliner that extends down its nose in a face crowned by gracefully backwards-sloping horns.
Leopards, lions and cheetahs are also present in good numbers for those looking for predators. But really it is the incredible landscape and scenery that makes this area so special and unique. An incredible tapestry upon which the treasured wildlife weave their individual stories.
When to Visit
Given the unique nature of the Okavango, there is wildlife present in good numbers all year round. The Okavango is probably at its most beautiful during the Flood (May to August) and particularly towards the end of July and August. This is because the grass has died down a bit since the rainy season of December through April making wildlife easier to spot, and the rivers and channels of the Delta have largely filled with water as the flood waters move ever further south-east gently fanning out across the floodplains. With such abundance, wildlife is flourishing and everything from mokoro journeys to boating, and helicopter flights is at its aesthetic apex. Photographically, the landscape is incredible, however, photography is limited by where you can travel and with so much water the wildlife is more spread out. The light is lingering and golden through these winter months and temperatures at night and early morning can be bitterly cold and wonderfully comfortable and warm during the day. From September trough October, as the floodwaters recede, the temperatures rise, and the landscape dries, wildlife is much more concentrated and the predator action can be sensational with good light and dust. November can bring the start of the rainy season with epic thunderstorms building during the heat of the day before bursting in the late afternoon and cooling things down (somewhat…) but this can lead to some truly epic skies and photographic opportunities.
JAN
Mixed
FEB
Mixed
MAR
Mixed
APRIL
Good
MAY
Good
JUN
Good
JUL
Very Good
AUG
Excellent
SEPT
Excellent
OCT
Excellent
NOV
Very Good
DEC
Good
