Okavango waterfalls. Okavango Falls What does Popa Falls mean?

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Okavango(in Angola Cubango listen)) is a river in southwestern Africa. Fourth longest river system in South Africa. Flows to the southeast. Length - 1600 km. Average water flow is 475 m³/s. Originates in Angola, where it is called Cubango. To the south, part of the border between Angola and Namibia passes along it, after which the river flows through the territory of Botswana.

Even before Botswana, the river's edge drops by 4 meters due to rapids known as Popa Waterfalls.

The Okavango does not flow into either the sea or the lake. Instead, winding through numerous labyrinths of channels, it loses 95% of its moisture through evaporation and disappears into the swamps in the northwest of the Kalahari Desert. This place is commonly called the Okavango Delta (Okavango Swamps), which is one of the largest river deltas in the world, covering an area of ​​15,000 km².

During rare very rainy periods, part river waters fills the lake

Excerpt characterizing the Okavango (river)

The Okavango River is capricious. It would seem that, starting just three hundred kilometers from the Atlantic Ocean, that’s where it should direct its waters. But no, the Okavango turned away from him, as if another ocean, the Indian Ocean, was attracting it, thousands of kilometers away in the southeast. But the river cannot reach it: the greedy sands of the Kalahari dry it up completely, without a trace. However, before sacrificing itself to the fire-breathing desert, the Okavango floods widely, forming the largest inland delta in the world.

A little geography

The Okavango Delta stretches over twenty thousand square kilometers, giving shelter to fish, birds and predators, and - last but not least - humans. It's hard for a man to get through dense thickets papyrus covering the shifting swamps. The expanses of the delta remain virgin - its numerous islands and islets. Many of them owe their existence to hardworking termites: in dry times, they build high termite mounds and loosen the soil into which plants then take root.

The face of the delta is constantly changing - with every year and season. And the reason for this is the river itself and its original inhabitants. Termites build islands, and hippos build channels to the islands - places of new pastures. Rare visitors to those remote places make their way along these channels, through the reeds. The only means of transportation is native pirogues hollowed out from tree trunks - “mokoro”. Thanks to their narrow, elongated body, they can move among papyrus thickets, however, if the thickets are not too dense.

The ease with which other species of flora and fauna adapted to life in the delta (which I witnessed) and in the arid, almost waterless conditions of the central Kalahari is amazing.

When people talk about the Kalahari, the phrase that usually comes to mind is “dead desert.” Desert - yes, but dead - no. There is water and, accordingly, life. That's right: the water is hidden under the thickest sand cover in the world, stretching over a distance equal to the space between the Urals and Poland. Plants resort to whatever tricks they can to get to the precious moisture and prevent it from going even deeper. The densely intertwined root system of grasses retains rainwater. The roots of some acacias go to a depth of 30 meters. Large root vegetables manage to accumulate up to 10 liters of water. These tubers are not hidden very deeply, and, for example, springbok antelopes, tearing them out of the ground and eating them, perfectly quench their thirst, even far from water bodies. Predators do the same thing: they get water from the body of their victims.

Another source of life-giving moisture in these parts is rain. But he does not often bestow the desert.
Two seasons are typical for the Kalahari - dry and rainy, although in the usual sense they cannot be called seasons. The dry period lasts from May to October; rainy - from November to April. However, the word “rainy” can be put in quotation marks, since it hardly rains at this time. And if the drought continues for several years in a row, then both animals and people suffer. But as soon as life-giving moisture pours from the skies, a significant part of the Kalahari is transformed. Grasses appear in vast areas, dry lakes fill with water, attracting colorful flocks of birds; animals scatter over many thousands of square kilometers. It is not for nothing that in Botswana the same word is used for both the monetary unit and the greeting: “pula”, which means “rain”.

However, what happens in the delta is partly independent of local atmospheric conditions. The Okavango originates in Angola and flows for hundreds of kilometers through mountainous terrain. In the mountains of Angola, during the monsoon period, usual for those subequatorial latitudes, a lot of moisture accumulates, and the Okavango regularly carries it to the delta itself - after one and a half thousand kilometers.

Due to the flat nature of the terrain and the width of the delta, the river flows slowly - at a speed of up to one kilometer per day, so it also overflows slowly. And it takes almost five months for new water to cover the distance from the upper reaches of the delta to its lower reaches, where it gradually disappears into the sand. It goes away - but not completely. The Okavango, as if unwilling to give up, gathers its last strength - and a tiny stream flows further through the Kalahari, albeit under a different name - Botletle. Thus, the rainwater that feeds the Okavango in the Angola mountains reaches the lower delta in about six months - right at the height of the dry season in Botswana. And the water in the delta is crystal clear: it flows slowly through papyrus and reed thickets - a kind of “filters”, and is therefore suitable for drinking.

Maung

Almost in the very heart of the delta is the town of Maung. Once upon a time, a small village huddled in its place, and this could not but affect the colorful appearance cities. Next to the tall, modern telecommunications center building, there are characteristic African huts, the so-called “rondavels.” Powerful diesel engines rumble on the embankment, where, according to stories, crocodiles sometimes get out and devour careless onlookers - several people a year. On the streets among passers-by dressed in ordinary clothes summer clothes, you can often see herero in wide skirts, which are more suitable for ballroom dancing than for walking on the sands of Maunga. The Herero tribe once adopted this strange fashion from German missionaries and are now extremely proud of their dress.

But one thing the residents of the town are united in is their hospitality. Everyone here is friendly, both black and white. This may be because Botswana has escaped the worst forms of British colonialism and Cecil Rhodes' apartheid in other countries in southern Africa at the end of the last century. People different colors skins here really live in friendship. I was convinced of this myself when I attended a meeting that took place in Maunga. Members of the meeting discussed issues of hunting and water rights to Lake Ngami, located south of the Okavango Delta.

The fact is that the shores of Ngami are a true animal kingdom... when there is water in the lake, of course. During drought, Ngami dries up to the very bottom.

Now life was in full swing there. However, despite the abundance of living creatures, hunting had to be done according to the rules. It is clear that hunting is for local residents- an important source of food. But even for them, restrictions had to be set - you can’t exterminate animals indiscriminately! Not to mention foreigners: maybe they should be banned from hunting altogether? However, from an economic point of view, this would be unreasonable, since visiting white hunters are wealthy people and for a trophy - for example, a zebra - they are ready to pay ten times, or even a hundred times more than they are able to pay for the right to hunt that the zebra is a local resident...
Where and how much water can be diverted so as not to upset the ecological balance in the Okavango Delta?..

In general, the meeting lasted several hours. There were both whites and blacks in the hall and presidium; presided white woman- she is a translator. It was clear that English was understood by everyone, but some speakers spoke their native Tswana, and then the floor passed to the presiding translator. It was also clear from the speeches that the whites were citizens of the Republic of Botswana. As far as I have been able to find out, in Botswana no one and nothing can force whites to take citizenship - not the government, not the circumstances. Moving here from other countries, they completely voluntarily become citizens of a “Negro” state, which is not at all typical for whites in other African countries.

To be honest, I was not so much interested in the issues being considered, which were essentially incomprehensible to me, a stranger, as in the people themselves - the expressions on their faces, their temperament... The opinions of both whites and blacks were treated here with equal attention and respect. Of course, there were disagreements, but during the entire time spent in the hall, I did not hear a single sharp attack - no one even raised their voice. In general, I left the meeting with a joyful feeling in my soul...

Sitatunga and others

And the next morning a small plane took me and my three companions from Maung to a tent camp located near blue waters a bay bordered by thickets of papyrus. The camp was equipped with everything necessary - in a word, complete comfort. True, it was occasionally disturbed by the tedious buzzing of tsetse flies. But here no one panics because of them. These inconspicuous-looking dipterans sting quite painfully, but only one in a thousand flies turns out to be a carrier of sleeping sickness. In addition, thanks to spraying, which is carried out under the supervision of national park rangers, the number of tsetse in the delta has decreased significantly in recent years. So on the first night, having chased a couple of annoying insects out of the tent, I happily indulged in a peaceful sleep.

In the morning, throwing back the flaps of the tent, I saw a whitish veil of fog, chest-high - another climatic feature deltas.
Plunging into the pirogue, we set off. The Mokoro, skillfully steered by Manila, my guide, slid along clean water, then through the reeds - and almost every ten meters, new landscapes opened up before us. Water lilies, blooming after a night's sleep, exposed their delicate petals to the morning light. The foggy curtain gradually dissipated - visibility gradually improved.

Something was fluttering in the papyrus thickets: it looked like we had scared away some large animal.
“Sitatunga,” Manipa said, as if I understood what he was talking about.
- Such a big animal, how can it run straight through the thickets, and even through the water: it’s not shallow here? - I asked the conductor.
“Not by water,” Manipa clarified. - This antelope is stomping right on papyrus... of course, relatively thick. Walking through unsteady places, she spreads her elongated hooves wide. Sitatunga even raise their cubs on papyrus islands where predators cannot reach them.
“I’ve never heard of such an antelope,” I muttered in surprise.
- We are located on the territory of the reserve - this is the only place where you can see them. But in other places they are rare. Maybe that's why few people know about them.
“It’s a pity, I didn’t see her well.” And what size are they?
“Nowadays it’s generally forbidden to hunt sitatung, but before, my father sometimes brought them home and sold the meat. Some weighed more than eighty kilograms.
- Eighty kilos - and on water as well as on dry land.
- I'm sorry, what? - Manipa didn’t understand.
“Nothing,” I say, “it’s just me...

Sometimes, to shorten the path, Manipa would direct our sharp-nosed “mokoro” through the thickets to some island. On the islands the grass had already turned yellow, although in some places it was still tall. It attracted fast antelope impala, and from afar we were looked at sternly by large, gloomy wildebeest, which are called “wildebist” - a word borrowed from the Dutch language, which means “wild beast”.
Having moored to the shore, we entered the grove, and then larger herbivores appeared.

The area resembled normal African savannah: bushes and trees gave way to the steppe, then again to a grove. Trees attract animals: open space they are clearly visible. The first ones we saw in the grove were black, or African, buffalos. African buffalo very different from its Asian relative in its ferocity and unpredictability. He tends to attack suddenly, which is explained by his myopia. Not seeing well what his “probable” opponent is doing, the buffalo sometimes rushes at him out of the blue, following the principle “attack is the best defense.” Whether this is true or not, the “blackie” is definitely more dangerous than the lion, which is usually indifferent to people.

A herd of buffalo trampled in the distance, but then a large male appeared less than a hundred meters from us and, seeing us, froze in anticipation. Manipa didn't like this.
“Let’s stop and let’s not tease him,” he whispered. “Who knows what’s on his mind.”
For a minute that seemed unusually long, we stood motionless, playing staring contest with the buffalo staring at us.
- You know, you better climb a tree. “The guide pointed to a tree standing nearby, on which there was only enough room for one.
- And how are you?
“It’s okay, I’ll guard you down here.”

Without asking what he meant by the word “guard,” I obeyed the order and somehow perched myself in the place where the tree trunk forked. Just then I remembered about the camera... But the next moment the picture changed: two “ladies” appeared on the stage, whom our gallant gentleman, apparently, considered it his duty to protect. Paying no more attention to us, he disappeared into the bushes with them.

“Come on, hurry up and get down from the tree and get into the Mokoro.” Now we’ll go to Chief Island - you’ll see elephants, lions, and maybe hyenas.
We went around Chief from the western side along a narrow channel that divided this neighboring island. Suddenly loud splashes and squelching were heard ahead, and some kind of fuss began.
“This is an elephant,” Manipa assured me. - Or maybe not alone. Let's stop and take a look...

Returning from reconnaissance, a somewhat embarrassed Manipa reported that big elephant I lay down to rest on the bank of the channel and even blocked it a little. So it’s hard to say when he will deign to clear the way for us.
And then he added:
“Although it’s generally possible to walk there.” But if we suddenly appear so close to him, the elephant may get scared, and then only chips will be left of the “mokoro”, and a wet place will be left of us.
- Well, let's go back the other way, there are many different channels here...
— Weight is not so simple. To the right, behind this nameless island, our path will be blocked by an impenetrable papyrus plug. It's too far to go around Chief on the east side. We won't make it to camp before dark. And the sun sets at six. Can you imagine what it's like to be in this labyrinth in pitch darkness? Then they won’t pat me on the head for this.
- What if you scare away an elephant from a distance? - I suggested. - Maybe he will get up and leave?
“So he won’t pay any attention to us,” Manipa remarked reasonably. - If we get close, we might run into...
- That’s the situation! What to do?
- There's only one thing left to do - have a snack. This brilliantly simple answer puzzled me a little.
- Have a snack? Well, we already had breakfast...
“So we’ll have to have lunch.” Manipa was young, strong, and could grind breakfast, lunch, and dinner at once without blinking an eye. With the dexterity of a real waiter, he quickly arranged folding chairs, a table and laid out all sorts of food. Opening a thermos of tea, I suddenly stopped and asked:
- What if this thug comes to us for a cup of tea without an invitation? This is not your buffalo. For example, he will break this tree like a match if we climb on it.
“Of course, he’ll break it,” Manipa agreed dispassionately. - But why on earth would he break it?
- Why, elephants break down trees all the time!
— They break to get to the branches on which they feed. Elephants don’t just attack people - only in cases of obvious threat. True, there are exceptions - solitary elephants. Among them there are real monsters. They mainly attack. But this rarely happens. So pour some tea and don’t be afraid - the elephant won’t try to kill you.

Having finished our meal, we, like clean housewives, went down to the stream to wash the dishes. Either our noise disturbed the giant, or something else, but he suddenly stood up. Manipa told me to lie down in the mokoro, and he hid behind the boat. And we began to wait for what would happen next. To our relief, the elephant crossed the channel and began to climb the steep bank of Chief Island. He stopped there, turned his back to us... and did not notice how we quietly slipped past.

The biggest lions

Manila felt indebted to me, promising to show me a lion and a hyena during our walks, but, alas, nothing came of it: we never saw the hyenas, and I only saw half of the lion. The other half of it - the head and the front part of the body - was behind the bushes, and I could only guess that it was a male.

“Exactly a male,” Manipa assured me. - Just look at his paws. In Botswana we have the most big lions in Africa. They attack buffaloes and even young elephants in packs. And they retreat only in front of one enemy - hyenas.
— Hyenas? - I was surprised. - But lions are incomparably stronger and larger.
- Yes, they never fight one on one - hyenas run away cowardly. But when hyenas gather in a huge flock, - another question is who will win. It happens that lions shamefully flee...

In the end, we were lucky: during our next trip to Chief Island, we clearly saw a lioness devouring a wildebeest.
“Now we have much more wildebeest in Botswana,” continued Manila. “And a few years ago, during a long drought, it was simply terrible what was happening. Wildebeest died in the hundreds of thousands, all because of fences.

Manipa was referring to the fences erected in various places in Botswana to protect livestock from wild herbivores, carriers of contagious diseases that can be transmitted through food to people: foot and mouth disease is especially rampant - and often fatal.

“Fences,” stretching hundreds of kilometers across the Kalahari, fenced off large pastures where herds of buffalo, wildebeest and other antelope grazed in non-drought times, from perennial water sources - and especially the delta. But then a long-term drought struck - this had happened before - and herds of thousands began to migrate along the familiar route to the north, to the water.

The main tragedy occurred in the depths of the Kalahari, south of the delta. The fences helped the delta itself a lot. On the western side they stopped the herds of cattle. Without the fences, livestock would invade and devastate the delta's water meadows, leaving wild animals to die out.

Now the delta is full of life - on land, in water and even under water, which greatly frightened one of the families of our camp. A father, mother and their sixteen-year-old daughter once went for a walk in two mokoros. Piroga with her dad and mom safely came out of the bay near the camp, but something happened to the boat where the girl was sitting. “Mokoro” suddenly jumped on the spot - the guide and passenger found themselves in the water, and the boat in the mouth of a hippopotamus. Having bitten off a piece from the side and rendered the pirogue unusable, the hippopotamus disappeared under the water. The other mokoro was already some distance away. The frightened parents expected with horror that the monster would emerge again and their daughter would end up in its mouth. The guide and the girl, as if racing, swam to the shore, which, fortunately, was close.

The frightened guide explained that nothing like this had ever happened here, near the camp itself, before, but in other places such incidents are still happening - sometimes with human casualties. The fact is that hippos like to graze at night, and in the daytime, when it’s hot, they prefer to rest in or under water.

That same day, the unlucky family left the camp, leaving the following entry in the guest book: “The place is interesting, but very dangerous.”

Meeting with the "forest man"

I often pestered Manipa with questions about the Bushmen. I was interested in the past and present of this people, which differs from most other African peoples not only in their external, physical appearance, in particular, skin color - they have much lighter skin - but also in a number of linguistic features; anthropologists even attribute them to some kind of special race .

Bushmen (Bushmen, translated from English as “bush people.” - are divided into groups: Kung, Kong (Makong), Khomani (Nusan) and others. - Note edit.) and Hottentots, the original inhabitants South Africa, settled here long before the arrival of the tribes of the Bantu linguistic group that inhabit these places now. Even before the establishment of white rule, the Bantu pushed the Bushmen out of the best areas of the Kalahari into barren areas. But even there the “forest people” showed extraordinary ability to survive, adapting to find water and food in an environment hostile to humans.

However harsh conditions lives and constant persecution of foreigners greatly reduced its numbers. Although today the Bushmen are allocated special settlements in the Kalahari, or, simply put, reservations, they practically do not live there: the majority prefer to engage in hunting and gathering - that is, to lead the traditional lifestyle of nomads. The rest are employed by the same blacks and whites.
- Why are you interested in the Bushmen? - asked Manipa.
“I’ve heard a lot about them and would like to see where and how they live.”
- How do they live, you say? Badly. But, if you want to look at them, we can go to the village, at the very end of the delta.

The skin color of the Bushman with whom Manipa introduced me was, indeed, not black, but apricot color, but otherwise, in appearance, our Bushman was not much different from other Africans. What was surprising was his suit: a jacket and trousers of dark blue with white stripes. Such a couple would be more likely to be seen at a diplomatic reception than on a farm worker in the wilds of the Okavango. The suit was clearly from someone else's shoulder - unbuttoned, too big size, the jacket hung strangely on his thin, naked body, exposing his protruding ribs. When I asked if he was getting ready for a parade, the bushman replied that the suit was given to him by a visiting European, and he was wearing it because now he had no other clothes left.

Then, looking me up and down, he suddenly asked:
— Could you give me a shirt? It's winter time now. And although the days are hot, the nights can be cold.
Unfortunately, I could not satisfy the request" forest man”, since I took with me on the road only the essentials. And I left everything else in Maung. But I still promised to send him some clothes from the camp when I fly back to Maung.

“Tell me,” I turned to my new acquaintance, “do you have any relatives among the Bushmen nomads in the Kalahari?”
“What kind of relatives are there?” he answered sadly. - Those who were there died long ago. We had this custom - in difficult times, leaving the weak and old to die in the desert in order to save food and water for the stronger ones. The old people themselves asked to be abandoned.
- But is there anyone left alive? - I was amazed.
- Yes, sure. Those of my family who survived now work on farms, like me and my brother.

Then his brother came up to him and they started talking in native language. I noticed that during the conversation they somehow smacked their lips, but then I didn’t pay attention to it special attention. Later I learned that smacking is characteristic of a peculiar family of so-called “clacking languages” common among the Bushmen and Hottentots. There are several types of clicking sounds - all of them perform the functions of consonants (Linguists, unable to designate these sounds with letters, use exclamation marks and colons in the middle of words to denote them. For example, “tzwa! na.” - Note edit.).

The culture of the Bushmen - their songs, dances, rock paintings - has now fallen into decay. 90 kilometers from our camp there were heights rare in the Kalahari - the Tzodillo Hills, dotted with rock paintings. These are very well done ocher images - mostly wild animals, and sometimes people. There are a lot of drawings, maybe more than a thousand. Who created them? The Bushmen living near Tzodillo have no idea about this...

But, in general, I have a pleasant impression of this country, because people here build their lives in a civilized manner, without racial hostility, and diligently protect the unique gift of nature, the Okavango Delta, which flows into the sandy Kalahari Ocean.

Vadim Dobrov
Botswana

The Okavango Delta is called nothing less than a wonder of the world and an oasis among the undeveloped corners of the African continent. The delta of this river is a truly unique natural formation. Okavango flows through northwestern regions Botswana, and the indigenous population has long called it the river that “can never find its ocean.”

The Okavango flows through Africa, then breaks up into branches, and then completely disappears into the hot sands of the Kalahari (hence the curious name). Because of quite slow flow water, a huge internal delta is formed, which consists of a large number of canals and swamps.

The Okavango Delta has long been a haven for various species of animals and plants. In a word, the entire territory of the river is a colossal natural zoo-reserve.

In the upper reaches of the delta, reed thickets and open areas shelter a considerable number of different birds, including a number of very rare ones. Ornithologists count more than 400 species there. This area is inhabited by the African fishing kite, bee-eater, emerald kingfisher, and fishing owl.

The lower reaches are a place of floodplain meadows and thorny acacia thickets. And accordingly, it attracts nomadic steppe animals - buffalos, zebras, antelopes and elephants - like a magnet. Of course, there are also predators - prides of lions, hyenas, and also leopards. In addition, the river delta is also home to a fairly large population of hippopotamuses. What can I say, here are ideal conditions for them.

The Okavango Delta is recognized by travelers as one of the most popular tourist destinations. If necessary, you can stay here in a comfortable hotel-lodge. And after that go on a safari. It is worth noting that elephant safari is one of the popular services here.

This amazing river flows in an amazing place and ends amazingly. Surprising with its number and diversity and animal world its shores.

No less surprising is the unique language of the people living in its basin.

The Okavango is the only permanent river in a vast and unusual area called the Kalahari, located between the Zambezi, Limpopo and Orange rivers in South Africa.

It is customary to write “Kalahari Desert” on maps. But this is not a desert at all.

In summer it rains heavily here, and in terms of annual precipitation (from a thousand millimeters in the north to two hundred and fifty in the south), these places cannot be compared, for example, with the Sahara or the deserts of Arabia.

Scientists have not been able to agree on what the Kalahari is. Some call it “desert savannah”, others use the term “green semi-desert”, others believe that in relation to such places it is more appropriate to talk about steppe park landscapes.

One way or another, there is water in the Kalahari. There are temporary rivers (during the rainy season), and lakes (most of which, however, dry up in winter). There are trees, shrubs, and herbs here, and in large quantities.

Umbrella acacias and tree-like spurges grow in the Kalahari forty to fifty meters from each other, as befits savanna trees.

Bushes and grass (sometimes up to a meter high) also do not cover the ground with a continuous carpet; Islands of sand are always visible between the green patches of vegetation. But this vegetation is quite enough for thousands of herds of antelope, buffalo and zebra for food, especially since the Okavango, this South African Nile, provides them with water all year round.

Beginning in the savannas of southern Angola, this river quickly rushes south through gorges and rapids, along steep slopes with waterfalls. And only in the Kalahari does it calm down, as if forgetting about its violent temper.

In the endless sea of ​​sandy plain, it spreads through labyrinths of branches, lagoons, lakes, forming a completely unusual river delta at the confluence... into nowhere.

It is called "an island of water in a sea of ​​sand."

Sixteen square kilometers of thickets of papyrus, bushes and algae provide shelter to many birds and animals all year round.

And during the flood, in May-June, the half-dried branches of the delta turn into stormy foaming streams, one of which reaches the “blue heart of the Kalahari” - the beautiful and inhabited freshwater Lake Ngami, opened to science by the great Livingston.

The remnants of the Okavango waters wander for another three hundred kilometers and disappear into the huge lake-swamp Makarikari.

The lake is a giant settling tank for soda brine.

In the dry season, from an airplane it resembles a lunar landscape: a solid white blanket with rare dark spots of water stretches all the way to the horizon.

The winding stripes of shallows surrounded by a motionless sultry haze are clearly visible.

The Okavango Delta contains all (or almost all) species of African fauna. Hippos coexist with crocodiles on green islands.

Herds of graceful antelopes rush by. Looking around carefully, a timid water goat gallops by - sensing danger, it plunges into the water up to its nostrils.

Graceful giraffes and gloomy buffalos and wildebeest come to drink.

Slowly, with feeling self-esteem, elephants and rhinoceroses are marching towards the water, shaggy and serious warthogs are busily darting around in the thickets.

Not far away, zebras, eland antelopes and ostriches graze in a friendly company - together it is easier for them to detect predators, since the birds' vision complements the sensitive hearing of striped horses and the delicate sense of smell of antelopes.

And, of course, around this abundance of game there are leopards, cheetahs and royal lions with their constant retinue of hyenas and jackals, and gloomy vultures slowly circle in the air, looking out for prey.

The abundance of fauna in the Okavango Delta is amazing. In addition to the animals already mentioned, there are about four hundred species of birds and up to seventy species of fish.

A vegetable world The delta has more than a thousand trees and shrubs.

And a traveler going to this unique oasis on a local pirogue - mokoro, will be able, during such a unique water safari, to see and capture on film water antelopes and hyena dogs, which have almost disappeared in other parts of Africa, admire herds of elephants, zebras and blue wildebeests, or catch a fishing rod of a hefty bream, or even a tiger fish.

And from the shores and islands, flocks of pelicans and storks, flamingos and marabou will look at the floating pirogue...

When the heat gives way to coolness and an impenetrable tropical night thickens over the Kalahari, the inhabitants of these places - Tswana shepherds and Bushmen hunters - find their way along the stars, so bright in these latitudes.

Their main reference point is the southern tropical constellation Capricorn. They turn to him with requests, and they thank him for a successful hunt.

Bushmen are a mysterious people. In appearance they do not resemble the majority of South Africans. Yellow skin and narrowed eyes bring them closer to peoples Mongoloid race. How and why they ended up in the depths of the “Dark Continent”, science does not yet know.

The language of the Bushmen puzzled (and still puzzles!) even linguistic experts. A European cannot not only pronounce half of its sounds, but even write them down. The compilers of dictionaries did not have icons to indicate such sounds, and they simply wrote down: “clicking sound”, “smacking sound”, “kissing sound” and so on.

The Bushmen are nomadic hunters, and the Kalahari, which in the 19th century was considered one of the richest regions in Africa, gave them the opportunity to feed their families with tasty game, as well as the edible roots and juicy fruits of wild melon.

But the appearance of white people with firearms quickly led to a reduction in the number of wild animals, and moreover, more and more watering places began to be captured by the neighboring tribes of Tswana pastoralists, pushing the Bushmen into the driest areas.

However, this intelligent people of born hunters and trackers managed to adapt to new conditions and now roam further south, closer to the basin of the Orange River and its tributaries that dry up in winter.

The ability to find places in dry riverbeds where there may be water under the sand helps them out, allowing them to survive until the rainy season, and the ability to eat everything that moves on the grass or sand, from larvae to locusts, allows them to survive in the event of an unsuccessful hunt.

This amazing tribe evokes involuntary sympathy with its intelligence, musicality, humor and kindness, which, by the way, was demonstrated by the recently released talented film “The gods must have gone crazy...”.

The Okavango crosses from northwest to southeast almost half of the vast southern African country of Botswana, which lies entirely in the Kalahari.

Until recently, this poor pastoral state did not shine with economic success.

But since the 1960s of the 20th century, when several large diamond deposits were discovered in the depths of Botswana, the situation has changed.

Now the country can afford to drill water wells in the dry park forests of the Kalahari, build civilized villages for the Bushmen and Tswana, and, finally, take up the protection of wildlife.

National parks and reserves now occupy almost a fifth of Botswana. They are found in the north, in the Zambezi basin, and in the southwest - on the tributaries of the Orange River.

But the three largest reserves cover the Central Kalahari, Okavango Delta and Lake Makarikari.