What river-fed wetland in Botswana is the world’s largest inland delta?

The Okavango Delta is the world’s largest inland delta.

Unlike a typical river delta, the Okavango does not flow into a sea or ocean. The Okavango River spreads across the sands of northern Botswana, where seasonal floodwaters create channels, lagoons, islands, and floodplains. Much of the water is lost through evaporation and plant transpiration before it can reach another major river.

The delta’s annual flood is unusual because it arrives during Botswana’s dry winter months. Rain falling in the river’s Angolan headwaters travels south for months, eventually transforming the delta while local conditions are often at their driest.

The Okavango supports elephants, lions, hippos, crocodiles, and hundreds of bird species. UNESCO added the delta to its World Heritage List in 2014. It should not be confused with the much larger Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna delta, which reaches the Bay of Bengal.