Botswana

África

Capital: GaboroneMay to October

183

Documented species

Parks and reserves

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Botswana is largely occupied by the Kalahari, a sand desert covered with grass and scrub that sustains more life than it appears to. Its counterpoint is the Okavango delta, a river that instead of reaching the sea spills inland and forms a fan of islands, channels and lagoons in the middle of the desert, fed by rains that fell months earlier in the highlands of Angola. In the north, Chobe concentrates in the dry season one of the highest elephant densities on the planet. In the northeast, the Makgadikgadi salt pans, the remains of an immense prehistoric lake, form a dazzling white plain that after the rains fills with shallow water and draws flamingos and herds of zebra. The country has committed to low-volume, high-value tourism.

The nature of Botswana

National animal: The zebra, present on the national coat of arms

Did you know?

Until recently the zebras of northern Botswana were believed to make only short movements. The GPS collars fitted from 2012 revealed that one group covers some five hundred kilometres there and back each year between the Okavango plains and the Nxai pans, the longest land migration in Africa and one of the longest in the world, which had gone unnoticed for decades.

Biodiversity profile

Africa Austral (pais sin litoral)La Reserva de Caza del Kalahari Central es una de las areas protegidas mas grandes de Africa

Climate

•Semiarido (BSh) en la mayor parte del territorio (Kalahari)
•Tropical con estacion seca en el norte (Delta del Okavango)

Main biomes

•Desierto del Kalahari (cubre gran parte del pais, sabana arida y matorral)
•Delta del Okavango (mayor delta interior del mundo, oasis de biodiversidad en pleno desierto, Patrimonio Mundial)
•Bosque de acacia-baikiaea (norte)
•Delta interior
•Salina o pan
•Sabana de mopane
•Llanura inundable estacional
•Bosque ribereño
•Pradera de hierba dulce

Marine and coastal ecosystems

•No aplica (pais sin litoral); el Delta del Okavango es el ecosistema acuatico mas relevante del pais

Flagship wildlife

•Elefante de sabana africano (mayor poblacion continental de un solo pais)
•Leon africano
•Perro salvaje africano
•Lechwe (antilope acuatica del Delta del Okavango)
•Cebra de llanura
•Elefante africano de sabana
•Lechwe rojo
•Órix gemsbok
•Flamenco enano
•Suricata
•Hipopótamo
•Leopardo

Notable endemic species

•El Delta del Okavango, al ser un oasis unico dentro del Kalahari, sostiene una concentracion excepcional de biodiversidad de fauna acuatica y de sabana en un entorno desertico

Notable threatened species

•Perro salvaje africano (En Peligro, poblaciones significativas en el norte del pais)
•Elefante de sabana (poblacion en fuerte crecimiento, Botsuana alberga la mayor poblacion de un solo pais de Africa, generando tambien desafios de manejo territorial)

Notable protected areas

•Delta del Okavango (Patrimonio Mundial)
•Reserva de Caza del Kalahari Central (una de las mayores de Africa)
•Parque Nacional de Chobe (elefantes)
•Parque Nacional de Makgadikgadi
•Reserva de Moremi
•Parque Nacional de Nxai Pan

Main conservation threats

•Conflicto humano-elefante por la alta densidad poblacional de la especie
•Sequias recurrentes en el Kalahari
•Presion sobre los recursos hidricos del Delta del Okavango, alimentado por rios que nacen en Angola

Notable natural phenomena

•El Delta del Okavango es el mayor delta interior del mundo, un oasis de agua dulce que nunca llega al mar, sino que se evapora e infiltra en pleno desierto del Kalahari

Conservation

Botswana holds the largest elephant population in the world, around a third of the African total, which generates constant debate over management and conflict with agriculture. The Okavango delta depends entirely on the conservation of its headwaters in Angola.

Where and when to watch wildlife

The Okavango between June and September, when the flood arrives and the water coincides with the dry season. Chobe in September and October for elephants at the river. Makgadikgadi after the rains, between January and March, for zebras and flamingos.

Sources: geographyworlds.com - What Is Southern Africa | Wikipedia - Kalahari acacia-baikiaea woodlands

Savanna Desert Freshwater