Moremi

Moremi Game Reserve protects the eastern sector of the Okavango Delta, in northern Botswana. The Okavango is one of the few great inland deltas in the world: the river descends from the highlands of Angola and, on entering the Kalahari basin, spreads into a fan of channels, islands and floodplains where the water evaporates and seeps away without reaching any ocean. The flood arrives several months after the rains that cause it, so the delta reaches its greatest extent in the middle of the Kalahari dry season, just when water is scarce across the whole region. That turns the delta into a seasonal magnet for wildlife. Moremi was also a pioneer in a political sense: it was declared in 1963 by the Batawana themselves, making it the first reserve in southern Africa established by the decision of a local community. It holds elephant, buffalo, lion, leopard and one of the strongest populations of African wild dog.