Magic Botswana: Makgadikgadi Pans, the Boteti River (1)

This may seem a strange inclusion, for the Boteti is a river that seldom has water in it - at least for its full lenght.

It is an overflow from the Okavango Delta and draws its water from the Thamalakane, which flows past Maun.

A low earthen embankment at the Boteti/Nhabe/Thamalakane junction was designed to divide the flow.

The Okavango's flood does not reach Maun until July or August, and it takes many more months for the water to make its way down the Boteti.

When the river is dry, as it mostly is these days, it offers wonderful opportunities for exploration.

There are beautiful acacia woodlands along its bank, cliffs of calcrete to investigate, birds in remarkable profusion and, for the photographer, innumerable attractive rural scenes.

Nearer to villages there's a maze of tracks leading everywhere; further out, you make your own.

Be cautioned, though: the sand can make for slow, heavy driving.