Caprivi Strip

Caprivi, sometimes called the Caprivi Strip, Okavango Strip and formerly known as Itenge, is a narrow protrusion of Namibia eastwards from the Kavango Region ranging around 450 km, between Botswana to the south, and Angola and Zambia to the north. Caprivi is bordered by the Okavango, Kwando, Chobe and Zambezi rivers.

On a trip across the Caprivi Strip, travellers come across many villages and their inhabitants, adding a genuine cultural dimension to their trip. Children herding goats wander back and forth across the road, women sell fruits, carvings, pots and pans from makeshift stalls, and everywhere travellers are warmly welcomed. Even the Strip’s main town, Katima Mulilo, is fairly small.

The area has mineral resources and its vegetation is lush, which supports a dense population, making this a unique corner of Namibia that, in many ways, feels much more like a part of Botswana or Zambia than it does a part of the rest of Namibia. Several national parks are found in the Caprivi Strip, including the main one, the Mahango National Park.

Mahango National Park, along the Okavango River, attracts an impressive range of animals including the water-loving buffalo, elephant, sable, reedbuck, bushbuck and waterbuck, plus the more specialist red lechwe and sitatunga. Good numbers of hippo and crocodile are also present. Mahango is a great favourite with birdwatchers; more species (over 430) can be found here than in any other park in Namibia.