Chobe National Park Travel Guide

Introduction

For most, the highlight of a trip to southern Africa is a sojourn in the world's largest inland delta. Originating in Angola, the Okavango River flows southward for 1,300km (806 miles), finally spilling into the northwestern corner of Botswana and turning it into an aquatic paradise. Thanks to the same geological activity that caused the Great African Rift Valley, the delta is more or less contained by fault lines between which the crust has sunk and filled up with sediment. It is into this bowl that the Okavango River seeps and finally evaporates into the Kalahari Desert, rather than making its rightful way to the sea. The annual southward flow of water is precipitated by the rainy season in the north, which begins in the Angolan uplands between January and March, and usually arrives at its southernmost point -- the delta -- around June or July, when the water spreads out to form innumerable pools, channels, and lagoons, and the temperatures are ideal.

Moving through Maun...