Botswana Geography
Botswana is bordered by Zambia to the north, Zimbabwe to the east, South Africa to the south, and Namibia to the west and north. The country is largely dominated by the Kalahari Desert, the southernmost desert in Africa, which dominates especially the north and west of the country.
In the north are the swampy basins of the Makgarikgari and the Okavango. A large expanse of savannahs, where livestock and agriculture (the country's main economic activities) are developed, marks the transition from the desert steppes of the SW and the forests of the N and NE. The most important rivers are the Okavango, the Limpopo and the Chobé. Among the lakes, the Ngami and the Xau.
Relief and hydrography
Botswana's landscape ranges from predominantly flat to a slightly rolling plateau, with some higher foothills. To the southwest and in the center is the Kalahari desert. In the northwest is the Okavango Delta, and in the northeast and north-central are the Makgadikgadi Salt Flats. This salt flat was the first area inhabited by humans. The extensive seasonal wetlands are made up of large salt flats, including the Nwetwe salt flat, the Sua salt flat and the Nxai salt flat.
Botswana's lowest point is the junction of the Limpopo and Shashe rivers, at 513mm, on the border with Zimbabwe and South Africa. The highest point is Mount Monalanong, at 1,494 m, in a forest-covered highland area in the south-east, near Gaborone. Other equally high points are the granite mass of the nearby Otse hill, 1,491 m, to the south of the previous one, next to the city of Otse, and, at the other end of the country, the Tsodilo hills, to the northwest, a group of rocks that rise above the plain to the west of the Okavango Delta, up to 1,400 m, and that the Bushmen consider a sacred place.
The country is divided into four main basins, which sometimes overlap due to the nature of the landscape and climate.
The Chobe River, bordering the Caprivi Strip in the northeast, with a swampy area where the Chobe National Park has been created, and which flows into the Zambezi River. Before reaching Botswana it is called the Cuando River and then the Linyanti River.
The Okavango Delta in the northwest, which is part of the Okavango Basin and is one of the most important wildlife reserves in the world. The Okavango River, coming from Angola, dies in the desert after flooding a large region, an interior delta that oscillates between 15,000 and 22,000 km² during the flood season.
The Limpopo River basin, which forms the south-eastern border with South Africa and receives the Notwane, Bonwapitse, Lotsane, Motloutse and Shashe rivers from the left from Botswana.
The driest southern and southwestern regions drain into the Nossob River, which marks the border with South Africa from Namibia in the southwest, receives the Auob River at the southern end of the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, and empties on the Molopo River, a tributary of the Orange River.
In Botswana, except for the Chobe, Okavango, Boteti and Limpopo rivers, the others dry up during the winter season.
Climate
Botswana's climate is semi-arid, due to the shortness of the rainy season. However, the relative altitude of the country, an average of 1000 m, and its continental situation give it a subtropical climate. It is too far away from humid air masses most of the year. The dry season lasts from April to October in the south and until November in the north. Winter lasts from May to August, and it is dry and sunny.
Southern Botswana is most exposed to cold winds during winter, from early May to late August, when temperatures average around 14.oC. The whole country has summer averages above 26.oC. At that time, the country is windy and dusty.
The driest areas are in the southwest, in the Kalahari, where it falls less than 300 mm, and in the east, in the Limpopo Valley, where it falls less than 400 mm. In Tshabong, to the southwest, 308 mm fall and in the cold and dry months, between May and September, the minimums are close to 0.oC.
The wettest areas are the north and southeast, where the capital Gaborone is located, with 590 mm on 59 days of rain per year and 100 mm each month between December and February, and less than 10 mm between June and August. Temperatures range from 5.oC to 23.oC for June and July and the 19th.oC and the 32.o C from December to February.
In the north, in Kasane, near the Namibian border, 625 mm falls in 60 days, with practically 0 mm between May and September, and lows of 10.oC those months. The Okavango Delta softens the minimum temperatures due to the surface of the water, but on the northern border it can get cold, and the rains can be more abundant some years if the air masses come from the Congo.
National parks and protected areas
According to UNEP-WCMC (UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre), in Botswana there were, in 2018, a total of 22 protected areas, 29.14 percent of the territory, 169,370 km², in 5 categories: national parks, of which there are four; forest reserves, of which there are 6; game reserves, of which there are 6; bird sanctuaries, of which there are 3, and game sanctuaries, of which there are 1. The Okavango Delta is a World Heritage Site, and the entire delta system is considered a Ramsar site.
- Chobe National Park, 11 000 km2, in the north, near Namibia and Zimbabwe. It has four ecosystems: the Serondela area, a plain flooded with mahogany and teak forests with large herds of elephants; the Savuti swamp, fed by the Savuti canal, with savannah and pasturelands, rhinoceros, kudus, impalas, etc.; the Linyanti swamp, along the Linyanti river, elephants, lions, leopards, leopards
- Cross-border park of Kgalagadi, 38,000 km2, in the Kalahari desert, formed by Gemsbok National Park (26.310 km2), in Botswana, and Kalahari Gemsbok National Park (9,590 km2), in South Africa. Dunes, low vegetation, dry river, lions, leopards, hyenas, antelopes, eland, etc.
- Makgadikgadi National Park, 490 km2, dry savanna from the northeast, one of the largest salt flats in the world, remains of a lake. It's part of the Kalahari. Flamencos, pelicans and ostriches.
- Nxai Pan National Park, 2576 km2, another salt flat in the northeast of Botswana, attached to the Makgadikgadi National Park, has a thousand-year-old baobabs, which owes its name to Thomas Baines, the man who discovered them. Elephants, giraffes, zebras, lions, etc.
- Sibuyu Forest Reserve, 1,194 km2
- Kasane Forest Reserve, 149 km2
- Kasane Extension Forest Reserve, 641 km2
- Kazuma Forest Reserve, 195 km2
- Chobe Forest Reserve, 1.432 km2
- Maikaelelo Forest Reserve, 532 km2
- Kalahari Central Hunt Reserve, 52.800 km2
- Khutse hunting reserve, 2,500 km2
- Moremi hunting reserve, 4,871 km2
- North Tuli hunting reserve, 780 km2.
- Nnywane reservoir hunting reserve, 10 km2
- Mannyelanong hunting reserve, 3 km2
- Mogobane bird sanctuary, 9.4 km2
- Bird sanctuary of the Bathoen reservoir, 4.7 km2
- Nata bird sanctuary, 961 km2
- Maun hunting sanctuary, 85 km2
- Nature Reserve Mokolodi, 37 km2.
The Okavango Delta is an inland delta formed where the Okavango River meets a tectonic depression in the endorheic Kalahari basin. The water dammed up and little by little evaporated with no way out. It receives 11 km³ of water every year in the rainy season, of which a part flows to Lake Ngami. The Moremi Game Reserve is the eastern side of the delta. It is considered one of the seven wonders of the world. It is also a World Heritage Site.
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