Okavango River

The Okavango River (formerly spelled Okovango or Okovanggo) is a river in southwest Africa. It is the fourth-longest river system in southern Africa, running southeastward for 1,600 km (990 mi). It begins at 1,300 m altitude in the sandy highlands of Angola, where it is known by the Portuguese name Rio Cubango. 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.

In Angola, the upper reaches of the Cuito (a tributary river to the Okavango) suffers clogging due to controlled burns of the vegetation, reducing water flow downstream as the accumulated water instead flows into the sand.[1]

Before it enters Botswana, the river drops 4 m in a series of rapids known as Popa Falls, visible when the river is low, as during the dry season.[2]

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.[3] Part of the river’s flow fills Lake Ngami. Noted for its wildlife, the Okavango area contains Botswana’s Moremi Game Reserve.