In 1962 the local BaTawana people set aside a third of the Okavango Delta to protect it for the future. They called this the Moremi Game Reserve and it encompasses a large area of the Delta’s wetlands and the main dry peninsula that juts into the Delta, known as the Mopane Tongue.
Chobe National Park, in northern Botswana, has one of the largest concentrations of game in Africa. By size, it is the third largest park in the country, after the Central Kalahari Game Reserve and the Gemsbok National Park, and is the most biologically diverse. It is also Botswana’s first national park.
Today, parts of Savuti are almost desert-like with a scorching sun and hot sand, while at the other extreme are vast grass plains full of game, reminiscent of Tanzania’s Serengeti. These rich grasslands are boosted into fecundity by summer rains, at which time huge herds of zebras migrate south from the Linyanti to gorge on the abundant grazing. Savuti also contains a number of pans that hold water for months after the rains, enabling animals to remain long into the dry season.
Khwai a small village of approximately 400 BaBukakhwe or River Bushmen located just outside Moremi Game Reserve in Northern Botswana. The people of Khwai are currently developing an eco-tourism and sustainable development program to conserve the area’s unique environment.