The Kavango is one of the rare rivers of the world that never reach the sea. Coming from the lush watershed of Angola, the river ends up in the Kalahari where is simply evaporates. Its delta is an immense luxuriant marshland at the heart of the desert, where thousands of channels, lagoons, and oxbow lakes, crisscross hundreds of islands teeming with wildlife. The place is rather isolated and almost empty of humans. This makes for very quiet evenings where calm waters, billowing clouds and infinite skies sketch spectacular sunsets.

The way to the delta is to go through the waterways in a mokoro, a local canoe, and have long walks on each islands. This gives you a perspective very different from the usual "game drives" in other places, especially when approaching lions.

At the edge of the Kalahari, the Makgadikgadi pans offer even more isolation. During the wet season the vast ancient lake fills with a foot of water and attracts huge flocks of flamingoes and endless herds of zebras and wildebeests. But by the end of the dry season, it's a desert where, as far as the eye can see, in all directions, there is absolutely nothing but a blinding white crust of sand and salt under a scorching harsh sun ...and a few bones.