Botswana - tourism

Botswana - tourism -- Review --

The Botswanan government's "National Conservation Strategy and Tourism Policy" was created to promote tourism while protecting wildlife areas. Citizens of the United States, South Africa, British Commonwealth countries, and most Western European countries do not need visas for stays of less than 91 days. Passports are required for travel in the country. Proof of yellow fever and cholera immunizations are required of tourists from infected areas.
The World Economic Forum report on Travel and Tourism Global Competitiveness ranked Botswana 87 out of 130 countries in its 2008 Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index. The same report praised Botswana's attractions, and the low rating was due to challenges confronting tourists, including lack of access to modern technologies, poor hygiene standards, and poor roads and communications.
Moremi Wildlife Reserve is the official wildlife preservation area located within the Okavango Delta. Its habitats range from mopane woodland and thorn scrub to dry savannah, riparian woodland, grassland, flood plain, marsh and permanent waterways, lagoons and islands. Like much of the Delta, it is home to an extraordinary variety of dry and wetland animals and is a wonderful place to explore.

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Okavango river rises in Angola's well-watered Benguela plateau and flows 1,000 miles south eastwards until it divides into a number of lesser watercourses. A series of movements in the earth’s crust diverted the Okavango River from its original course causing it to make its way into Botswana’s Kalahari Desert, where it forms a vast delta. The Okavango Delta is one of the world’s largest inland deltas.
The Kalahari Desert stretches across seven countries and covers the entire central and south western regions of Botswana. However, its name is misleading because the average rainfall exceeds that of a true desert. Instead it is a vast, arid, predominantly featureless area of sandy sediments. Its plains are covered by scrub, grasses and patches of woodland. There is no surface water in the Kalahari and only occasional rivers.
Chobe National Park lies in the far north-eastern corner of Botswana. It is well-watered by the Chobe River and thereby contains Botswana’s most varied and dense game populations.
The river runs through the northern part of the Chobe and with its perennial water supply supports the greatest population of game in the park. The Savuti Marshes in the west and the Linyanti Swamps in the northeast also attract a huge amount of wildlife and during the wet season, they draw abundant birdlife.
A major feature of Chobe National Park is its elephant population, currently estimated to be approximately 120,000. These elephants are migratory as they journey on a seasonal basis from the Chobe and Linyanti Rivers during the wet season to the pans in the southeast of the park where they go during the rains, a journey of up to 150 miles.
This is one of the best game-viewing areas in Africa. The range of species is enormous and their numbers can be quite staggering. Major species include giraffe, elephant, zebra, impala, tsessebe, roan antelope, sable, wildebeest, kudu, buffalo, waterbuck, warthog and eland. Predators include lion, hyena, jackal and bat-eared fox. Wild dog and cheetah are also occasionally found in the region.

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