These truly are spectacular:
Bone-dry Plains
PHOTOGRAPH BY GEORGE STEINMETZ, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CREATIVE
Botswana's Okavango Delta was named the 1,000th World Heritage Site by UNESCO this week, a hard-won designation that affords special protection against human development.
The delta encompasses a 3,000-square-mile (7,770 square kilometers) plain whose nutrient-rich water provides a sanctuary of channels, lagoons, and islands for thousands of plant and animal species. Among the area's inhabitants: the largest population of elephants on Earth.
After some initial work to expand the delta's tourism infrastructure, the delta's new status will bring a halt to development.
—Jennifer S. Holland
Great Pride
PHOTOGRAPH BY BEVERLY JOUBERT, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CREATIVE
There's no fearing water for these cats. The lions of Duba Plains, in the Okavango Delta's northern reaches, often get wet when charging after prey. According to the Wilderness Wildlife Trust, the prides here account for an estimated 1,500 of the world's lions; Botswana is one of only seven countries believed to have more than 1,000 of the big cats left.
Dance of Death
PHOTOGRAPH BY BEVERLY JOUBERT, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CREATIVE
Cape Buffalo surround a wounded bull, denying a meal to a lioness of the delta's Tsaro pride, named for the trees that the lions use for shade. The lions and buffalo here are intimately linked, with the cats rarely letting the herd of potential prey out of their sight and regularly taking out its weakest members. The buffalo don't go easily, though, fighting back as a unit and sometimes wounding or even killing one of their formidable predators.
Published June 29, 2014
Getting Bigger
PHOTOGRAPH BY FRANS LANTING, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CREATIVE
Elephants and impalas gather at a dry-season watering hole, an oasis when the land isn't flooded. Due to a successful conservation effort and limited poaching, Botswana houses the largest savanna elephant population, with some 150,000 animals whose range has been expanding farther into the delta in recent years. An increase in reported human-elephant conflicts is one unintended consequence.
Published June 29, 2014
Movers and Shakers
PHOTOGRAPH BY FRANS LANTING, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CREATIVE
A hippo bursts from its watering hole in the Okavango Delta's Savuti River. With skin that's particularly vulnerable to the sun's burning rays, these animals stay in the water for much of the day, their movements carving channels through the swampy land.
Published June 29, 2014
MORE HERE:
Stunning Pictures: Inside Africa's Last Wetland Wilderness
Bone-dry Plains
PHOTOGRAPH BY GEORGE STEINMETZ, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CREATIVE
Botswana's Okavango Delta was named the 1,000th World Heritage Site by UNESCO this week, a hard-won designation that affords special protection against human development.
The delta encompasses a 3,000-square-mile (7,770 square kilometers) plain whose nutrient-rich water provides a sanctuary of channels, lagoons, and islands for thousands of plant and animal species. Among the area's inhabitants: the largest population of elephants on Earth.
After some initial work to expand the delta's tourism infrastructure, the delta's new status will bring a halt to development.
—Jennifer S. Holland
Great Pride
PHOTOGRAPH BY BEVERLY JOUBERT, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CREATIVE
There's no fearing water for these cats. The lions of Duba Plains, in the Okavango Delta's northern reaches, often get wet when charging after prey. According to the Wilderness Wildlife Trust, the prides here account for an estimated 1,500 of the world's lions; Botswana is one of only seven countries believed to have more than 1,000 of the big cats left.
Dance of Death
PHOTOGRAPH BY BEVERLY JOUBERT, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CREATIVE
Cape Buffalo surround a wounded bull, denying a meal to a lioness of the delta's Tsaro pride, named for the trees that the lions use for shade. The lions and buffalo here are intimately linked, with the cats rarely letting the herd of potential prey out of their sight and regularly taking out its weakest members. The buffalo don't go easily, though, fighting back as a unit and sometimes wounding or even killing one of their formidable predators.
Published June 29, 2014
Getting Bigger
PHOTOGRAPH BY FRANS LANTING, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CREATIVE
Elephants and impalas gather at a dry-season watering hole, an oasis when the land isn't flooded. Due to a successful conservation effort and limited poaching, Botswana houses the largest savanna elephant population, with some 150,000 animals whose range has been expanding farther into the delta in recent years. An increase in reported human-elephant conflicts is one unintended consequence.
Published June 29, 2014
Movers and Shakers
PHOTOGRAPH BY FRANS LANTING, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CREATIVE
A hippo bursts from its watering hole in the Okavango Delta's Savuti River. With skin that's particularly vulnerable to the sun's burning rays, these animals stay in the water for much of the day, their movements carving channels through the swampy land.
Published June 29, 2014
MORE HERE:
Stunning Pictures: Inside Africa's Last Wetland Wilderness
