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Okavango - Pan handle

The Okavango, Chobe and Zambezi rivers have a long history.

Okavango Panhandle

One theory has it that millions of years ago the Okavango, Chobe and Upper Zambezi flowed as one majestic river across the middle Kalahari.
This huge river later joined the Limpopo river and emptied into the Indian ocean

Earth movements however stopped this flow and caused a damming effect of the river and the formation of the Linyanti swamp and Okavango delta

Maps

- Okovango Delta
- Lodges
- Botswana Map
- Moremi Map
- Chobe Park
- Map of Okavango Delta

The Okavango Panhandle is the main watercourse supplying the Okavango Delta. The Panhandle is a stretch of approximately 70km of the Okavango River from where the river enters Botswana until it fans out.

Panhandle Accommodation

Drotskys cabins

* Drotsky Cabins

Drotsky's is a small fishing lodge on the panhandle of the Okavango Delta, Botswana, close to the Namibian border at Shakawe

Xaro lodge Xaro Lodge

* Xaro safari lodge

situated near Shakawe, on the panhandle, on the north western side of the Okavango delta, Botswana

15 minute boat ride from Drotsky cabins

See and Do - pan handle Okavango

Tsodilo Hills

About 40km to the west of the Panhandle lies a rocky outcrop known as Tsodilo Hills, a area that boasts fascinating cave paintings and walking trails.

Tsodilo Hills consist of four large pieces of rock, rising unexpectedly from the dry expanse of desert. The Bushmen that lived here referred to the bigger rock as the 'male', the smaller one was known as the 'female', and the smallest one was the 'child'. According to legends the fourth hill was the male hill's first wife, whom he left for a younger woman, and who now prowls in the background.

Buhman paintings : It boasts 500 individual sites representing thousands of years of human habitation. Nobody knows the exact age of the paintings although some are thought to be more than 20 000 years old, whilst others are merely a century old.

It can be reached on a good dirt road in a standard 2 wheel drive car

Drotsky's Caves - Gcwihaba Caves

These beautiful caves are situated 50km south east of Aha Hills and are set in the same undulating Kalahari dunes.

There are two unspectacular low ridges of sand-covered rock at the entrance to the caves, but an enchanting spectacular curtain of stalactites is the first of many wonders inside this fascinating formation.

The caves are a labyrinth of linked passages and caverns, which exist on two levels, one raised several metres above the other.

The large bat population sometimes encountered inside is noisy, but totally harmless. The system of caves contains a maze of passages which lead to bizarre rock formations, flowstones of various beautiful and subtle colours, stalactites, inlets, hallways, apertures and "frozen" waterfalls.

These magnificent chambers and formations, stalagmites and stalactites which reach up to 10m in height or length, were all carved and formed by dripping water, which seeped through and dissolved dolomite rock. Although completely isolated this unspoilt area is worth exploring for a few days. It is necessary to be completely self-sufficient as the cave is very remote.

In the !Kung language, the name of this cavern system in the Gcwihaba Hills means "hyena's hole".

The Gcwihaba Caverns were first brought to European attention in the mid-1930s when the !Kung showed them to Ghanzi farmer Martinus Drotsky, and for years they were known as Drotsky's Caves.

As with many caves, Gcwihaba has a legend of treasure; the fabulously wealthy founder of Ghanzi, Hendrik Matthys van Zyl, is said to have stashed a portion of his fortune here in the late 1800s.

Accessible only in 4x4 vehicles