Delta of Okavango

See also: Okavango (homonymy)

The delta of Okavango (or marsh of Okavango ) is largest interior delta of the world (18 000 km ²).

Located at the north of the Botswana, the area formed formerly part of the Lac Makgadikgadi, disappeared there is approximately: 10000 years. Today the Okavango does not have a maritime mouth. It flows in the Kalahari Desert , irrigating: 15000 km of this one. Several million islands was formed around the termitières or of the bouquets of plants which retain the alluvia. Twenty-four species of wader S nest in the islands. Certain colonies are simply established on a watery fig tree, the Gomoti under which crocodiles and hippopotamuses abrittent themselves. Each year approximately 11 km of water run with the delta; a fraction created the Lake Ngami, more in the south.

The water of the delta is very pure due to few Agriculture and Industrie on banks of Okavango. It passes by the Aquifère S of Sable of many the island S and evaporates by leaving enormous quantities of salt. The process of precipitation is so strong that the vegetation is non-existent in the center of the islands, where are formed crusts of salt.

Water floods the cyclic area of manner, in the middle of the southern summer and six months later in the south (May-June). Water is quickly evaporated because of the high temperatures, creating cycles of high/low depth in the south of the area. The islands can disappear under water for the periods from flood to reappear at the end.

Demography

The population of the delta comes from five ethnicities, each one with their culture and language: Hambukushu (or Mbukushu, Bukushu, Mbukuschu, Ghuva, Haghuva), Dceriku (or Dxeriku, Diriku, Gceriku, Giriku, Niriku), Wayeyi (or Bayei, Bayeyi, Yei), Bugakhwe (or Kxoe, Khwe, Kwengo, Barakwena, G/anda), and ||anikhwe (or Gxanekwe, //tanekwe, Bochimans of the rivers, Bochimans of the marshes, G//ani, //ani, Xanekwe).

Hambukushu, Dceririku and Wayeyi are all Bantous which is traditionally farmers of millet and of fishing Sorghum, , Chasse the USSR and make gathering. They are Nomade S.

Bugakhwe and ||anikwe is Bochimans fishermen, hunters and gatherers. Bugakhwe used the resources of the forest as well as river while them ||anikwe concentrated on river. Hambukushu, Dceriku and Bugakhwe are present on Okavango in Angola and in the Bande of Caprivi; there are also some Hambukushu and Bugakhwe in Zambia. In the delta itself one has found, for 150 years, of Hambukushu, Dceriku and Bugakhwe in the band of Caprivi as well as the area of Magwegqana in the North-West. ||anikwa is in the band of Caprivi and with the length of the rivers Boro and Boteti. Wayeyi are around Seronga and in the south of the delta close to Maun; little lives in the grounds which they say ancestral, in the band of Caprivi.

For two decades Maun has attracted many people coming from all the delta. Towards the end of the year 1960 and with the beginning of the year 1970 more: 4000 Réfugié S Hambukushu of Angola were installed in the surroundings of Etsha in the west of the band of Caprivi.

Some members of the ethnos groups Ovaherero and Ovambanderu live the delta, but since the majority of the members of these ethnos groups live elsewhere and that their presence in the delta is recent, they are not considered people of the delta.

There exist also several small groups of Bochimans, each one of a handle of individuals. They were mainly decimated by the diseases of Europeans in the middle of the 20th century.

The delta has been under the political control of the ethnos group Batawana (a subgroup of the Tswana) for several centuries. However, the majority of Batawana live around the delta.

Fauna and flora

The delta shelters a large variety of animals which attract thousands of tourists each year, come to make Safari S in the camps and inns of the area.

It is the seasonal habitat of many species, of which the African elephant, the Buffle of Africa, the lechwe, the Topi, the black Gnou, the Hippopotame, the Crocodile of the Nile, the Lion, the Guépard, the leopard, the Hyène, the lycaon, the greater kudu, the black Hippotrague, the black Rhinocéros and white, the Malayan Varan, the Phacochère, the Cynocéphale of Chacma and the Impala. In the Kalahari Desert, the lions and lionesses live in group loose and scattered because their preys are small, rare and wandering. On the other hand, at the edge of the delta, the large cat-like ones are very brought closer and treated on a hierarchical basis. At the edge of water, they must be linked to drive out the large ruminants.

The delta shelters also more than 400 species of birds, of which the African fishing eagle, the royal Grue and the Ibis crowned. Waders and raptors reign on the people of water, while the Buphage S, known as also spade-oxen , assume for airport the spine of the large mammals. Thus, a black Hippotrague (large antelope whose horns can exceed 1,5 meter) allows its hosts of goberger parasites encrusted in its peeling.

The birds are the princes of the delta, because the way of the airs is more the course way in this labyrinth.

The Namibian government projects to build a Barrage in the band of Caprivi to control the water flow, which certain groups protest because it will endanger the rich person fauna and flora of the delta.

See too

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