The National Geographic Okavango Wilderness Project occupies a special place in modern exploration. Not only is the team regularly making the scientific journeys down remote sections of rivers — following Angola’s southeastern rivers from their sources to where they meet each other — they’re also returning every year to the Okavango Delta itself, crossing the same area but seeing it with a new perspective.

From northwest to southeast, they glide across this vast inland Delta — a fan of once-rushing water that has slowed down and spread out into a wide marshy pool. Surrounded by hippos, crocodiles and elephants and underneath thousands of birds, they make their way — recording their observations and renewing their commitment to protect this wild paradise in the heart of Africa.