At ten thirty, our mini-plane landed, and we were flying over the Kalahari once again. From this small height, the desert looked like an endless ocean. I would never have thought that the Kalahari was so beautiful. The flat and completely level surface was covered with golden-green blankets of savanna, through which the red patterns of sand dunes and light blue lakes emerged.
The plane flew at an altitude of no more than 500 meters above the ground, avoiding powerful rain clouds. It was very amusing to observe what was happening. The clouds hung isolated and were scattered across the entire visible space. Before us was a picture of heavenly irrigation. Each cloud, from time to time, as if pressing a button, showered the earthly spaces with abundant rain.
As soon as the life-giving moisture poured from the heavens, the surface of the Kalahari transformed before our eyes. Grasses appeared, dried lakes filled with water, attracting flocks of birds and animals...
The further north we flew, the greener the Kalahari became. Soon the golden tones completely disappeared from the surface of the earth. In their place came the colors of malachite and emerald.
The winding arms of the bays sank into the greenery of the reed plants. We were at the borders of the greatest delta on the planet, created by the Okavango River, named after the Kovanago tribe living in northern Namibia.
The river is born in the highlands of Angola and flows, against logic, eastward, away from the nearby Atlantic Ocean. In the mountains of Angola, during the usual monsoon period for those latitudes, a lot of moisture accumulates, and the Okavango reliably carries it to the delta, traveling one and a half thousand kilometers. Near the village of Seronga, the river gives its precious moisture to a labyrinth of channels, forming a wide delta that resembles a fan, a world of overgrown papyrus arms, swamps, and sandy islands.
The vast continental delta expands and contracts with the pulse of the March floods. When the water rises in the river, it immediately affects the entire delta. The water in the channels begins to rise and floods the surrounding plains. Breaking through the walls of papyrus, the streams flow onto the flood meadows, cutting off islands with palm trees from the land, and merge into a blue mosaic of lakes.
Due to the flat nature of the terrain and the width of the delta, the river flows very slowly — at a speed of up to one kilometer per day. The greedy sands of the Kalahari pounce on the life-giving stream of moisture. But before sacrificing itself to the desert, the Okavango floods, forming the largest inland delta in the world. The face of the delta is constantly changing. And the reason for this is the river itself and its inhabitants. Termites build islands, and hippos carve channels.
Through these channels, rare visitors to these places make their way through the reed thickets. The only means of transportation are native narrow boats carved from tree trunks. These boats are called "mokola."
