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6 things you may not know about botswana...
- Botswana is believed to have the biggest population of elephants in Africa. The Chobe region alone is estimated to have a population of up to 50,000 elephants. In 2012, Botswana’s total population of elephants was estimated at 154,000.
- Botswana is home to the Okavango Delta is one of the largest inland deltas in the world, spanning 17,000km2 – an area almost the size of Wales. Okavango is often considered to be the biggest inland delta in the world; its closest rivals are the Sudd in South Sudan and the Inner Niger Delta in Mali.
- None of the water in the Okavango Delta reaches the sea – the large majority of it is either evaporated or transpired, with a remaining 2% estimated to discharge into Lake Ngami.
- The Makgadikgadi Pans are the largest salt pans in the world. With an area of about 12,000km2, these impressive salt pans are all that remain of the once immense Makgadikgadi Lake. The area is an important habitat for meerkats, and also for wildebeest, zebra, pelicans and flamingos following periods of rain.
- The border between Botswana and Zambia is, at 700m, known as the shortest border between two fully independent countries. It is a riverine border sandwiched between the Zambia-Namibia and Zambia-Zimbabwe borders, all of which run through the middle of the Zambezi River.
- Botswana has the 7th lowest population density of any country in world. At 8.8 people per square metre, it has about a tenth the population density of the United States (83) and just a 75th of the UK’s population density (660). Plenty of room for the wildlife, then!