The water of the Okavango River Basin supports over a million people across Angola, Namibia, and Botswana until it ends in the Okavango Delta. It’s all sourced by a wetland area high up in Angola, which has had no official protections until now.
Photo credit: Kostadin Luchansky
Photograph by: Mauro Sérgio
A stream flows in the Angolan Highlands, a vast wetland area that supplies trillions of gallons of water downstream, eventually flowing to the Okavango Delta. Now, just like the Delta in Botswana, this area of the Angolan Highlands Water Tower has become a Ramsar designated site—an important first step toward the Okavango Eternal partnership’s goal to help protect these source waters.
Photograph by: Mauro Sérgio
Over the last decade, community work, biodiversity surveys, and other sociological data gathering expeditions have slowly mapped the region for Ramsar designation—signifying its ecological and cultural importance. In 2021, De Beers joined National Geographic in the Okavango Eternal partnership, with its mission to help protect the source waters of the Okavango River Basin, greatly accelerating the ground laying work of the National Geographic Okavango Wilderness Project (NGOWP). One of the most important aspects of this research work has been documenting hundreds of plant and animal species, many of which are yet to be described by academic science.
Photograph by: Mauro Sérgio
A researcher collects mayfly eggs to understand the integrity of the environment. “I was in the Highlands of Huambo, following the Cubango/Kavango/Okavango River (the same river named differently in each country), one of the biggest contributors to the Okavango Basin,” says Mauro Sérgio. “I was part of an expedition team with this researcher, when I noticed that every day, he habitually grabbed his net to collect samples. I decided to follow him to understand his task. He then explained to me how important mayflies are to the ecosystem.” Mayflies are considered critical to freshwater ecosystems, being a food source for other wildlife and indicators of good quality, clean water. After joining National Geographic, De Beers continues to support biodiversity research as well as working with communities toward ecological solutions that both protect the environment and create better livelihoods, such as sustainable farming techniques.
Photograph by: Götz Neef
As water flows down from Angola, the Cuito River (top) merges into the Kavango River in the Caprivi Strip, the panhandle-shaped northeastern region of Namibia. The Kavango is crucial as one of very few perennial rivers in Namibia, with people and wildlife congregating along its banks, relying heavily on the resources it provides. This is especially so when annual flood pulses from Angola’s rainy season swell the river into flood plains, pushing fish spawning and aquatic plant life growth into abundance.
Photograph by: Götz Neef
An older bull elephant forages in the acacia forests in Mahangu, a national park near the Kavango River. Elephants are hugely important ecosystem engineers in many African countries, and especially in the Okavango River Basin. Angola’s civil war largely drove elephants out, primarily from fear of hunting, meaning Namibia has a significant elephant population (around 24,000), particularly in the Kavango region. The newly acquired Ramsar designation of the Angolan Highlands is the first step toward preserving water that feeds the Kavango River here. Longer term, it also opens up potential for the Angolan Highlands to once again become a safe area for elephants to move freely from other parts of the Okavango Basin. This sits as part of a wider Okavango Eternal goal of creating “corridors” of protected land along the rivers where wildlife can traverse.
Photograph by: Götz Neef
Bundles of cut reeds sit drying beside the Kavango at sunset. Like people in Angola and Botswana, communities in this region depend on the river for their lives. Fishing gives sustenance, while plant materials that grow along the banks are used to build roofs on homes and fences around them. Yet, declining fish stocks and deteriorating water quality, driven by commercial fishing, agricultural runoff and urban pollution, are starting to threaten the local way of life. This makes the hydrological monitoring supported by Okavango Eternal so important for conservation research and informed policymaking.
Photograph by: Götz Neef
During a routine expedition along the Kavango River, Götz Neef noticed roots of the waterberry tree gripping onto the bank. These are historically prominent in the Caprivi region and play a vital role in fortifying the river banks to prevent erosion. Kavango River expeditions like this are when Götz and his team are able to monitor elements like vegetation coverage, amounts of aquatic life, and general ecological health. The ongoing collection of this data under Okavango Eternal, the first and only dataset of its kind for the region, will identify any changes in the quality of the water coming from Angola, providing critical insights that will help to maintain the integrity of the Ramsar site.
Photograph by: Karabo LeBronpeter Moilwa
On a trip up into Namibia, Karabo wanted to see what commonalities communities along the border between Namibia and Botswana share. Those in Kamutjonga village, like the fisherman pictured here, rely on the river for their livelihoods as they have done for generations. “This image is about more than one man and his catch,” says Karabo. “It is about the river itself—where it comes from, where it goes. This water began its journey in the Angolan Highlands, bringing renewal to the landscapes it touches. It fills the nets of fishermen, and connects people across three nations."
Photograph by: Karabo LeBronpeter Moilwa
A young woman plays with her baby in the golden hour light. Behind them stands the mokolwane (also known as the mokola) tree, an important resource used by mothers like her in communities by the river. Its leaves are used for weaving and thatching roofs, and the trunks themselves are carved into mokoros, the long canoes used to catch fish and navigate the waterways. “Looking at this image, I feel a deep respect for the mothers of the Delta,” says Karabo, likening the river itself to a mother. “We are children of the river, she provides for us. She connects her children from Angola, Namibia, and Botswana.”
Photograph by: Karabo LeBronpeter Moilwa
A woman carries grass she’s gathered from the Delta to thatch the roof of her home. Women of the Delta are homemakers, both figuratively and literally—they raise a family within a home they’ve built with their hands, gathering grasses and papyrus, mixing clay and forming it by hand into walls. “I was in the Delta to document the relationship between the people and the river,” says Karabo. “The grass this woman carries grew because of that water. I wanted to capture that connection—the river gave her building materials, she will carry them home to construct a shelter, and together they will raise a family.”
Photograph by: Karabo LeBronpeter Moilwa
Thihemo, a Hambukushu woman from Etsha 8, a village on the west side of the Okavango Delta, weaves baskets out of fibers from the mokola palm. The mokola has been used by the Hambukushu people for generations, ever since their ancestors travelled from the Angolan Highlands, following the rivers south until they reached the Delta. “When they arrived,” says Karabo, “they found the mokola palm growing on the islands that became their home. They built their lives around this tree and its many uses.” A big part of Okavango Eternal’s work around the Delta is ensuring that communities like the Hambukushu can maintain and preserve their traditional skill-based livelihoods. This includes providing financial literacy training and access to other learning resources, in order to build more sustainable and profitable opportunities.
Photograph by: Karabo LeBronpeter Moilwa
Communities around the Delta spot the arrival of the annual flood that comes from Angola by the crest of water that appears—called leleme la noka or “the river’s tongue” in Setswana. This keen eye for the life-giving nature of water reaches far back into our evolutionary history, as it’s suggested that our ancestors found water by spotting the glimmer off its surface. It’s thought that we’re innately attracted to anything that sparkles, especially sparkly, mirror-like objects like diamonds, because we associate them with the presence of clean, fresh water—something that’s always been crucial for our survival. Now, through Okavango Eternal, natural diamonds are contributing toward the preservation of the life-sustaining water that flows down from Angola, crucial to the survival of the people and wildlife across the entire Okavango River Basin.
