The Okavango Delta is a vast inland river delta in Botswana, formed where the Okavango River reaches a tectonic trough in the central Kalahari Desert at an elevation of 930 to 1,000 metres.
Unlike most deltas, the Okavango does not flow into a sea or ocean. Instead, each year around 11 cubic kilometres of floodwater spreads across 6,000 to 15,000 square kilometres of sandy floodplains and islands, where nearly all of it is ultimately evaporated, transpired by plants, or seeps into the shallow alluvial aquifer beneath. The delta’s wetland system remains largely intact, and on 22 June 2014 it became the 1,000th site inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The Moremi Game Reserve lies on its eastern side. The region was once part of Lake Makgadikgadi, an ancient lake that dried up by the early Holocene, and in 2013 the delta was named one of the Seven Natural Wonders of Africa.
