Okavango River

Okavango River

river

Origin of the watercourse	Bié Plateau
Mouth of the watercourse	Okavango Delta
Tributary	Cuito River, Q1142908, Q10361826, Q22088933
Drainage basin	Kalahari Basin
Country	Angola, Botswana, Namibia
Coordinate location	12°39′14″S 16°7′38″E, 18°41′2″S 22°10′25″E

Kavango river view at Hakusembe river lodge

De Okavango River (dem formerly spell am Okovango anaa Okovanggo), be a river for southwestern Africa insyd. Dem know am by dis name for Botswana insyd, as Cubango for Angola insyd, for Kavango for Namibia insyd. E be de fourth-longest river system for southern Africa insyd, wey dey run southeastward give 1,600 km (1,000 mi). E dey begin at an elevation of 1,300 metres (4,300 ft) for de sandy highlands of Angola insyd. Farther south, e dey form part of de border between Angola den Namibia, den dey then flow into Botswana. De Okavango no get an outlet to de sea. Instead, e dey discharge into de Okavango Delta anaa Okavango Alluvial Fan, for an endorheic basin insyd for de Kalahari Desert insyd. De Cuito River be major tributary.

Flow

De Cubango den Cuito Rivers be de principal tributaries of de Okavango Delta, den dey affect ein health. For Angola insyd, seasonal controlled burns of de vegetation dey clog de upper reaches of de Cuito den reduce water flow downstream as de accumulated water instead dey flow into de sand.

Before e dey enter Botswana, de river dey drop 4 m (13 ft) for a series of rapids insyd wey dem know am as Popa Falls, wey dey visible wen de river dey low, as during de dry season.

For de rainy season insyd, an outflow to de Boteti River for turn insyd seasonally dey discharge to de Makgadikgadi Pans, wey dey feature an expansive area of rainy-season wetland wey tens of thousands of flamingos congregate each summer. Part of de river ein flow dey fill Lake Ngami.

Flood

Popa Falls (2018)

Every wet season, Angola dey receive three times more rainfall dan Botswana, wey dey discharge a higher dan usual flow into de Okavango, wey dey turn swathes of outlying desert into a huge wetland.

Although de summer rains dey fall for Angola insyd for January insyd, dem take a whole month to travel de first 1,000 km of de Okavango River, den then dem take a further four months to filter thru de plants den numerous channels of de final 250 km of de delta. As a result, de flood dey at ein biggest sometime between June den August, during Botswana ein dry winter months. De delta then dey swell to three times ein permanent size, wey e attract animals from kilometres around den dey create one of Africa ein greatest concentrations of wildlife.

At ein widest point for a big flood year insyd, de seasonal swamp dey stretch to 150 km across from east to west; one of de factors dat dey lead to de ever-changing nature of de delta be de flatness of de area. If one be say to take a cross section of de delta at ein widest point, one go find say de height variation from den mean ova dat 150 km dey less dan 2 m, wey dey mean say a minor sand deposition fi cause major changes.

For very wet years insyd, a part of de river ein flow fi extend along de Magweggana River (actually a northeastern distributary of de Okavango Delta) den enter de Zambezi River, wey e bypass de Kalahari.

Sediment transport

De river dey carry annually 28,000 tonnes of suspended sediment den a similar amount of bedload to de terminal swamps. Most of de particulate sediment wey de river carry be fine sand, plus sam silt den mud, thanks to de geological makeup of de Okavango River catchment wey dey largely underlain by Kalahari sand. Der dey low concentration of dissolved solids for de river water insyd - around 40 mg/L, make up mostly of silica, calcium den magnesium bicarbonates - but dem dissolved solids dey form de largest component of sediment wey dem carry into de delta sekof de annual water volume dey so large.

History

During colder periods for Earth ein history insyd, a part of de Kalahari be a massive lake, wey dem know am as Lake Makgadikgadi. For this time insyd, de Okavango go fi be one of ein largest tributaries.

Confluence of Cuito (from top) den Okavango (wey dey flow from left to right) (2018)
18°01′40″S 020°47′31″E

Water conflict

Both Namibia den Botswana dey experience drought, den as a result, dem express concerns about possible conflict ova use of de river ein water. Namibia build a water canal, wey e measure about 300 km long, den dem propose a project to build a 250 km pipeline to divert water from de river into Namibia to help relieve de drought.

Botswana, howeva, dey use de Okavango Delta give both tourism income den a water source. De Department of Water Affairs for Botswana insyd submit dat dem lose 97% of de water for de river insyd thru evaporation, so de country no fi afford to lose any extra water.

Namibia, for turn insyd, argue say e go only divert half of one percent of de river ein flow, den say dem entitle am to any water dat dey flow thru ein territory. To deal plus such issues, for September 1994 insyd, Angola, Namibia, den Botswana sign a multilateral agreement to form de Permanent Okavango River Basin Water Commission, to provide advice to de three countries about de best ways to share de Okavango River ein resources.

Oil exploration

ReconAfrica, a petroleum exploration company wey dem headquarter am for Canada insyd, obtain exploration licenses give more dan 13,600 square miles of land for de former Kavango Region of Namibia insyd den for Botswana insyd. For January 2021 insyd, ReconAfrica announce de start of drilling operations for de first exploration well top. Environmental activists express concern say dem no properly vet ReconAfrica ein plans give ein test wells thru Namibia ein environmental review process, howeva ReconAfrica den both de governments of Namibia den Botswana stated say de company ein activities follow due process den dat no fracking go occur. ReconAfrica ein drilling area dey for de Kavango West insyd region wey dey contain a multicountry conservation park, six locally managed wildlife reserves, den one UNESCO World Heritage site, howeva de drilling license no dey include any of these protected areas.

External links

• OKACOM Homepage