Okavango Delta A World Heritage Site

Congratulations Botswana!

Botswana’s Okavango Delta became the 1 000th site inscribed on the World Heritage List on 22 June 2014. Okavango was inscribed as a natural site by Unesco’s World Heritage Committee.

This delta in northwest Botswana comprises permanent marshlands and seasonally flooded plains. It is an integral part of the Kavango Zambezi TFCA.

It is one of the very few major interior delta systems that do not flow into a sea or ocean, with a wetland system that is almost intact. One of the unique characteristics of the site is that the annual flooding from the river Okavango occurs during the dry season, with the result that the native plants and animals have synchronised their biological cycles with these seasonal rains and floods.

It is an exceptional example of the interaction between climatic, hydrological and biological processes. The Okavango delta is home to some of the world’s most endangered species of large mammal, such as the cheetah, white rhinoceros, black rhinoceros, African wild dog and lion.

See the Unesco site for more.