Botswana’s Okavango Delta became 1000th site inscribed on World Heritage Site List

Okavango Delta in Botswana on 22 June 2014 became the 1000th site to be included in the UNESCO World Heritage Site List. The 38th session of the World Heritage Site Committee at Doha, Qatar endorsed the Okavango site as the Natural World Heritage site.

The World Heritage Committee also inscribed sites in France, Israel, Italy, Turkey and the United States. The List now totals 1001 properties.

About Okavango Delta

The delta is located in the northwest Botswana. It comprised permanent marshlands and seasonally flooded plains. It is one of the very few major interior delta systems that do not flow into a sea or ocean, with a wetland system that is almost intact.

One of the unique characteristics of the site is that the annual flooding from the river Okavango occurs during the dry season, with the result that the native plants and animals have synchronised their biological cycles with these seasonal rains and floods. It is an exceptional example of the interaction between climatic, hydrological and biological processes.

The Okavango delta is home to some of the world’s most endangered species of large mammal, such as the cheetah, white rhinoceros, black rhinoceros, African wild dog and lion.