The Okavango Delta is the largest freshwater wetland in southern Africa, the main source of water for a million people, and one of Africa’s richest places for biodiversity. Since 2015, National Geographic Fellow Dr. Steve Boyes and an interdisciplinary team of scientists and explorers have been surveying the river system and working to protect the Okavango watershed.
The lifeblood of the landscape
The extravagant richness of an untamed world
The people who call paradise home
Map by NGS Staff; Martin Gamache, Art of the Mappable
2015 Expedition
1 ——— May-Sept.: Source to Sand Megatransect
2016 Expeditions
2 ——— Feb.-April: Source Lakes Cuito Cuanavale
3 ——— July-Aug.: Source Lakes Kembo Cuando
4——— August-Sept.: Annual Delta Crossing
5 ——— Oct.-Nov.: Source Lakes Science
Watch the trailer for the new film from National Geographic Documentary Films
and watch it on Nat Geo WILD on Dec. 14 at 9/8c.
In partnership with Google, our Google Voyager story uses the newly visualized Human Impact data and provides on-the-ground data and storytelling from National Geographic’s Okavango Wilderness Project expeditions to show how we can better protect the natural resources and wildlife of regions like the Okavango watershed.
Photograph by James Kydd
See how you’re helping us create a healthier and more sustainable planet.
Satellite map source: NASA, HydroSHEDS; Satellite map credit: Martin Gamache, Art of the Mappable; Expedition map source: HydroSHEDS; Expedition Map credit: Martin Gamache, Art of the Mappable; Photographs by Chris Boyes (“Water”), GÖTZ NEEF (“Biodiversity”), Kostadin Luchansky/Angola Image Bank (“Community”).
