the role of tourism in natural resource management in the okavango ...

themselves in the main stream of the river where the flow is strongest. Tall reeds
and papyrus can grow in deeper water, while grasses and sedges are only present
in shallower fringe zones that are flooded sporadically. The deep water reeds and
papyrus are able to grow so tall because they have first and best access to nutrients
carried down the main channel, whereas the growth of plants further back from this
supply of nutrients is less vigorous (Mendelsohn and el Obeid, 2004).
There are two primary factors that have an over-riding impact on terrestrial plants.
These are soil characteristics and rainfall. Most of the entire Okavango region is
covered by Kalahari sand on which several species grow abundantly. They dominate
the sands and form plant communities that are quiet different from those on lower­
lying, more clayey soils that often contain more nutrients and retain more water than
does the sand (Mendelsohn and el Obeid, 2004).
5.3.3.4 Wildlife Resources
The Okavango Delta and its surrounding areas support a remarkable number and
diversity of life forms, among them 164 species of mammal, more than 400 of bird,
157 of reptile, 84 kinds of fish and over 5000 of insect. However, the Delta is still not
considered a prime wildlife region. The apparent lushness of the terrain is
misleading; as it is part of the wider Kalahari system, the soils are sandy, poor in
nutrients; the plant communities are not as productive as one might expect; and the
carrying capacity of the grasslands is much lower than that of such wildlife havens
as, for example, the Serengeti-Mara area of East Africa. Additionally, hunting and
various forms of commercial exploitation - including cattle expansion and misguided
attempts to eradicate the tsetse fly - have exerted heavy pressure on the already
fragile environment. It is only in the Moremi Game Reserve, a largely dryland area,
do the game populations reach densities comparable to those of Africa's major
sanctuaries (Bailey, 1998).
Even though the Okavango Delta does not compare to other East-African wildlife
areas, it does contain large numbers of wildlife. Various surveys over the past ten
years have produced estimated population figures of between 160 000 and 260 000
for large mammals in the Delta. Compared with the Panhandle area, the Permanent
Delta supports relatively high densities of wildlife. The animals here generally keep
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