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Okavango River
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Okavango River
The Okavango River (formerly spelt Okovango or Okovanggo) is a river in southwestern Africa. It is known by this name in Botswana, as Cubango in Angola, and Kavango in Namibia. It is the fourth-longest river system in southern Africa, running southeastward for 1,600 km (1,000 mi). It begins at an elevation of 1,300 metres (4,300 ft) in the sandy highlands of Angola. Farther south, it forms part of the border between Angola and Namibia, and then flows into Botswana. The Okavango does not have an outlet to the sea. Instead, it discharges into the Okavango Delta or Okavango Alluvial Fan, in an endorheic basin in the Kalahari Desert. The Cuito River is a major tributary.
The name Okavango is derived from the Kavango, which refers to the Kavango people of northern Namibia.
Older English spellings included Okovango, while some Namibian scholarship prefers Kavango when referring to the Namibian river and region. Historian Andreas Eckl notes that German colonial reports used Okavango, but that the initial O- is not common in local Kavango languages, and has instead been attributed to Herero influence.
The Cubango and Cuito Rivers are the principal tributaries of the Okavango Delta, and affect its health. In Angola, seasonal controlled burns of the vegetation clog the upper reaches of the Cuito and reduce water flow downstream as the accumulated water instead flows into the sand.
In 2015, National Geographic launched the Okavango Wilderness Project (NGOWP) to extensively survey the Okavango/Cubango Basin . In 2023, the NGOWP published their findings which included the discovery of the original source. The source was found to be dense peatland in the Angola Highlands, aptly called the "Angola Highlands Water Tower" (AHWT) or Lisima Iya Mwono - meaning "Source of Life" - in the Luchaze language. Over 12 feet deep in some areas, the AHWT is estimated to hold 423km3 (or over 100 trillion gallons) of water, supplying over 95% of the water in the Okavanga Basin . In 2026, the AHWT has been designated as Angola's first "Wetland of International Importance" by the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands and the Angolan government .
Before it enters Botswana, the river drops 4 m (13 ft) in a series of rapids known as Popa Falls, visible when the river is low, as during the dry season.
In the rainy season, an outflow to the Boteti River in turn seasonally discharges to the Makgadikgadi Pans, which features an expansive area of rainy-season wetland where tens of thousands of flamingos congregate each summer. Part of the river's flow fills Lake Ngami.
Every wet season, Angola receives three times more rainfall than Botswana, discharging a higher than usual flow into the Okavango, turning swathes of outlying desert into a huge wetland.
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Okavango River
The Okavango River (formerly spelt Okovango or Okovanggo) is a river in southwestern Africa. It is known by this name in Botswana, as Cubango in Angola, and Kavango in Namibia. It is the fourth-longest river system in southern Africa, running southeastward for 1,600 km (1,000 mi). It begins at an elevation of 1,300 metres (4,300 ft) in the sandy highlands of Angola. Farther south, it forms part of the border between Angola and Namibia, and then flows into Botswana. The Okavango does not have an outlet to the sea. Instead, it discharges into the Okavango Delta or Okavango Alluvial Fan, in an endorheic basin in the Kalahari Desert. The Cuito River is a major tributary.
The name Okavango is derived from the Kavango, which refers to the Kavango people of northern Namibia.
Older English spellings included Okovango, while some Namibian scholarship prefers Kavango when referring to the Namibian river and region. Historian Andreas Eckl notes that German colonial reports used Okavango, but that the initial O- is not common in local Kavango languages, and has instead been attributed to Herero influence.
The Cubango and Cuito Rivers are the principal tributaries of the Okavango Delta, and affect its health. In Angola, seasonal controlled burns of the vegetation clog the upper reaches of the Cuito and reduce water flow downstream as the accumulated water instead flows into the sand.
In 2015, National Geographic launched the Okavango Wilderness Project (NGOWP) to extensively survey the Okavango/Cubango Basin . In 2023, the NGOWP published their findings which included the discovery of the original source. The source was found to be dense peatland in the Angola Highlands, aptly called the "Angola Highlands Water Tower" (AHWT) or Lisima Iya Mwono - meaning "Source of Life" - in the Luchaze language. Over 12 feet deep in some areas, the AHWT is estimated to hold 423km3 (or over 100 trillion gallons) of water, supplying over 95% of the water in the Okavanga Basin . In 2026, the AHWT has been designated as Angola's first "Wetland of International Importance" by the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands and the Angolan government .
Before it enters Botswana, the river drops 4 m (13 ft) in a series of rapids known as Popa Falls, visible when the river is low, as during the dry season.
In the rainy season, an outflow to the Boteti River in turn seasonally discharges to the Makgadikgadi Pans, which features an expansive area of rainy-season wetland where tens of thousands of flamingos congregate each summer. Part of the river's flow fills Lake Ngami.
Every wet season, Angola receives three times more rainfall than Botswana, discharging a higher than usual flow into the Okavango, turning swathes of outlying desert into a huge wetland.
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