Wildlife of Botswana

Botswana is one of the best countres in the world for wildlife watching. 17% of Botswana is made up of unspoilt national reserves from the vast expanses of the Kalahari Desert to the world’s largest inland delta – the Okavango. 90% of the country is covered by a form of savanna, including most of the arid Kalahari, which has enough vegetation to support large numbers of wild animals

In addition to the delta and desert areas, there are grasslands and savannas, the latter where Blue Wildebeest, many antelopes, and other mammals and birds are found. Northern Botswana has one of the few remaining large populations of the endangered African Wild Dog. The Chobe National Parks, found in Chobe District, has the world largest concentrating of African Elephant. The park is about 11000 KMsq. It also support about 350 species of Birds. The Chobe National Park, Moremi Game reserve (found in midst of Okavango Delta) are major tousist places. Other reseves are Central Kalahari Game reserve, also called CKGR, located in the Kalahari desert in Ghanzi District. Makgadikgadi Pan Game Reserve and Nxai Pan National Park are in Centaral District in Makgadikgadi Pan. Mashatu Game reserve is privately owned. it is located where Shashe River and Limpopo River meet in easten Botswana. The other privately owned is Mokolodi Reserve near Gaborone, the Capital City of Botswana. There are also sanctuaries like Khama Rhino Sanctuary ( for protecting Rhinoceros) and Makgadikgadi Sanctuary (for Flamingo birds). They are both located in Central District.

Source: Wikipedia

Although about 90% of Botswana is covered by some kind of savanna, even the Kalahari Desert contains adequate vegetation to support tens of thousands of wild animals. Common trees are the mopane, camel-thorn, motopi (shepherd’s tree), and baobab. Botswana is a natural game reserve for most animals found in southern Africa, including lions, leopards, cheetahs, elephants, giraffes, zebras, hippopotamuses, rhinoceroses, African buffalo, hyenas, and 22 species of antelope. The duiker (a small, horned antelope), wildebeest (gnu), and springbok (gazelle) are familiar. As of 2002, there were at least 164 species of mammals, 184 species of birds, and over 2,100 species of plants.

Source Wikipedia

Nature reserves in Botswana (Wikipedia)