The Okavango Delta is a river that never reaches the sea: it enters Botswana as a single trunk through the Okavango Panhandle, then fans into thousands of braided channels across the Kalahari before drying away completely. Toggle the peak flood pulse and the Chief's Island marker below the scene.
Published figures: permanent wetland about 6,000 sq km, expanding to roughly 15,000-22,000 sq km at peak flood; fed by the Cubango and Cuito Rivers from the Angolan highlands; UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2014.
Drag to orbit and scroll or pinch to zoom. Everything renders on your device with WebGL.
Okavango Delta 3D Explorer
This browser explorer shows the Okavango Delta as an inland fan: a single trunk enters Botswana through the Okavango Panhandle, fans into a network of braided channels across a flat plain, then shrinks and dries away completely into Kalahari sand - no coastline, no river mouth, no ocean.
The water starts as rain falling in the Angolan highlands, feeding the Cubango and Cuito Rivers that join to form the Okavango River. That rain falls roughly October to April, but the floodwater takes about four months to travel the roughly 1,200 km downstream, so the delta's own peak flood usually arrives June to August - during Botswana's dry winter, a mismatch that shapes the whole ecosystem. In most years almost none of that water reaches any sea: it disappears through evaporation, plant transpiration, and seepage into the sand.
- Toggle the peak flood pulse to see how much more of the fan floods at high water
- Toggle the Chief's Island marker for the delta's largest island, largely inside Moremi Game Reserve
- Read wetland area, source rivers, and World Heritage figures in the panel
- Drag to orbit, scroll or pinch to zoom
- Runs fully in the browser with the vendored three.js engine - no account, no upload
| Figure | Published value |
|---|---|
| Delta type | inland (endorheic) delta - no permanent outflow to the ocean |
| Wetland area | permanent marsh about 6,000 sq km, expanding to roughly 15,000-22,000 sq km at peak seasonal flood |
| Source rivers | Cubango and Cuito Rivers, rising in the Angolan highlands and joining to form the Okavango River |
| Flood pulse | rain falls in Angola roughly October-April; floodwater takes about 4 months to travel about 1,200 km downstream, so peak flood in the delta usually arrives June-August, Botswana's dry winter |
| Where the water goes | in most years almost all of it disappears through evaporation, plant transpiration, and seepage into Kalahari sand |
| World Heritage status | UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2014, celebrated as the 1,000th site on the list |
| Islands | thousands of low islands across the delta; many began as termite mounds that trapped sediment and grew over centuries |
| Chief's Island | the delta's largest island, commonly cited about 70 km long, largely within Moremi Game Reserve |
| Wildlife | home to elephants, hippos, lions and more than 400 recorded bird species |
For two other places shaped by water and landscape on a grand scale, open the Mekong Delta 3D Explorer or the Great Rift Valley 3D Explorer.
The Okavango Delta scene assembles entirely inside your browser using the site-vendored three.js WebGL build, so the braided channel network, the flood-pulse recolor, and the Chief's Island marker all redraw on your own device. The engine downloads once (about 0.7 MB), is cached for return visits, and nothing about your session - no account, no upload - is ever sent to a server.
This is an educational approximation - the channel network, plain profile, and vertical scale are schematic teaching cues, not survey hydrology.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why doesn't the Okavango Delta flow to the sea?
It is an inland (endorheic) delta - the water fans out across a flat basin in the Kalahari and, in most years, disappears entirely through evaporation, plant transpiration, and seepage into the sand before it could ever reach an ocean.
Why does the flood arrive in the dry season?
The rain that feeds the delta falls in the Angolan highlands roughly October to April, but that floodwater takes about four months to travel the roughly 1,200 km downstream. By the time it arrives, Botswana's own rainy season has ended - so the delta's peak flood usually lands in the dry winter months, June to August.
How did the delta's thousands of islands form?
Many started as termite mounds. Sediment collects around the mound, trees take root, and over centuries the mound grows into a low, wooded island standing above the surrounding channels and floodplain.
What is Chief's Island?
The delta's largest island, commonly cited at about 70 km long, sitting largely inside Moremi Game Reserve - one of the richest wildlife areas within the delta.
Is the Okavango Delta a UNESCO World Heritage Site?
Yes - it was inscribed in 2014, and is often noted as the 1,000th site added to the World Heritage List.
Is this a scientific terrain model?
No. It is an educational explorer using published figures - the channel network, plain profile, and vertical scale are schematic teaching cues, not survey hydrology.