Okavango Plain - World Natural Heritage in Botswana

Unesco's Scientific, Educational and Cultural Organization recognized Botswana's Okavango Plain as a World Natural Heritage in 2014.

Plain of Okavango, Botswana

The Okavango plain or Okavango grassland is a large plain area with an area of ​​7,770 square kilometers. This is the largest plain in Botswana. The Okavango plain not only has beautiful scenery but is also home to thousands of rare and precious wildlife. It is also the area with the most elephants in the world.

Okavango stands out with the Kalahari desert - hard, arid sand, but a great grazing land of many wildlife after each rainy season. Besides, the green lagoons in the peaceful, meandering rivers with rich plants . really create beautiful landscapes for the whole region.

Amazing natural landscapes in the Okavango plains with meandering green swamps, lush green meadows spread out to the horizon.

The most special thing is that the lagoons here self-evaporate and evaporate completely rather than flow into any sea or ocean. Every year, 11km3 of water spread in an area of ​​6,000 to 15,000 km2 creates endless winding rivers with green lagoons in peaceful . Okavango Delta is therefore considered to be the natural wonder of Chau. Africa , not just famous places in Botswana. In Africa though, there are two plains that are similar in structure to Okavango : Sudd on the Nile in South Sudan and the Niger River Delta in Mali.

With strange evaporation characteristics, especially about 11 billion liters of water flow into this delta every year, then about 60% of water will be lost through the evaporation of plants; 36% evaporates into the air, the rest escape into the underground system.

Besides strange evaporation properties, special geological layers and excellent natural scenery.The Okavango Plain is also home to hundreds of mammal species, birds and fish species, many of which are rare and precious species.

Besides the evaporation characteristics along with the rare scenery, the Okavango plain is also noticed by a large number of wildlife including numerous rare species. It is estimated that more than 200,000 large mammals reside in the seasonal plains and migrate when the summer rains appear to find new pastures then return here in the winter. In addition, there are hundreds of species of permanent resident animals, including many rare and precious species such as African Elephant, Buffalo of Africa, Ha Ma, Linh Duong, Brown Hyacinth, Spotted hyena, Wildebeest, Giraffes, Crocodiles, Lions, Hunting Newspapers, Leopard, Black Rhinoceros, White Rhinoceros, Plain Zebra . Particularly, birds also have up to 400 species of all kinds, including special species such as : Great in Africa, Potters, Royal Gray Cranes, Hammerhead, African Ostrich, African White Stork . In the lakes in the Okavango delta region there are also 71 species of fish including like African lake fish, catfish. Particularly, catfish is estimated to have about 1.4 million. A number of fish species are also found in the Zambezi river, which indicates the delta and this river has some connection in the past.

With its beautiful natural scenery and diverse flora and fauna, the Okavango plains become a very attractive destination in Botswana.

Mammals make up the largest number of antelopes with about 60,000 heads. Antelopes reside in the Okavango plain larger than other antelope species. Long and waterproof nails that are easy to adapt to the environment change in the plain. Food of antelope is mainly grass, some species of special antelope eat aquatic plants near the swamp area. Because of the abundance of food, the antelope here grows rapidly in quantity.

Okavango Delta is recognized by Unesco under the criteria (vii), (ix), (x)

Criterion (vii): Due to the changing environment and climate, the Kalahari desert area becomes a beautiful and rare landscape of Botswana and of Africa.

Criterion (ix): The Okavango Delta is a testament to the complex nature of the environment where animals, plants, climate, and geology have a direct impact on each other's development process.

Criterion (x): The Okavango Delta is not only an area with an extremely beautiful, exotic nature landscape but also has special geology. Also an interesting but also important contribution to Unesco's recognition of this place as a world heritage is the large number of plant and animal species residing in this place. Many of them are listed as rare and endangered.