06 NIGHTS 07 DAYS VICTORIA FALLS, CHOBE NATIONAL PARK, OKAVANGO DELTA PACKAGE

Overview

Victoria Falls known as the “Smoke that thunders” in the local Tonga language, is the largest single curtain of falling water in the world and 70% of the exquisite views are seen from the Zimbabwe rain forest. The rain forest which has constant rain 24/7 from the never ending spray of the Falls, has unique ecosystem. It is a botanists dream and bird lovers’ paradise. There are species here that don’t occur anywhere else, and our recommendation is to look just a little beyond the pathway and the numerous viewpoints. One of the beauties is that the area has not become over commercialized. In fact, once you are standing by the Falls your view will not be much different to that of David Livingstone’s who first saw the Falls in 1855.Walking within the Falls is a couple of kilometres and it does get very hot.

The Okavango Delta is a unique pulsing wetland. More correctly an alluvial fan, the delta covers between 6 and 15 000 square kilometres of Kalahari Desert in northern Botswana and owes its existence to the Okavango (Kavango) River which flows from the Angolan highlands, across Namibia’s Caprivi Strip and into the harsh Kalahari Desert.

Each year the Okavango River discharges approximately 11 cubic kilometres (1.1 × 10¹³ litres) of water into the Okavango Delta. Most of this water is lost to transpiration by plants (60%) and by evaporation (36%) with only 2% percolating into the aquifer system with the remainder finally flowing into Lake Ngami.

The Okavango Delta is affected by seasonal flooding with flood water from Angola reaching the Delta between March and June, peaking in July. This peak coincides with Botswana’s dry season resulting in great migrations of plains game from the dry hinterland.