DECODING THE DELTA

From fishing owls to arthropod architects, the Okavango Delta is an artwork of extraordinary flora and fauna: 130 mammals, more than 480 bird species, over 80 fish types, 94 kinds of dragonflies and thousands of plants call this wild wonderland home. Then there are the enchanting landscapes they inhabit. Then there are the people who share an acute kinship with the rolling river and all the wild within.

Welcome to one of the worldʼs best safari destinations. But first, a little history.

Part of the Great East African Rift Valley system, deep fractured continental shifts, carved out the Okavango Delta. This Unesco World Heritage Site forms where the Okavango River flows and fans out ever so slowly into the Kalahari Desert. The result is a biodiverse abundance of forests with lilies, dry and wet lands of striking contrast.

At the core is Moremi Game Reserve. Proclaimed in 1963, the reserve covers roughly one-third of the Okavango Delta and claims to be the first in Africa declared by residents (as opposed to colonial powers). Under the leadership of Mma Moremi (the late Chief Moremi