Books, Articles, and Other Media

Books about the Peoples of the Okavango Delta

• Fabled tribe: a journey to discover the river bushmen of the Okavango Swamps (1969) by Clive Cowley - Out of print - About an expedition into the Okavango. Mostly describes the expedition but has information about the Bushmen.
• Okavango Gods (1998) by Anthony Fleischer - Novel about a Hambukushu boy in the Okavango. Preview available at Google Books.
• The Kavango Peoples (1981) by Gordon D. Gibson, Thomas J. Larson and Cecilia R. McGurk - Out of print - Extensive ethnographic summary of the peoples of the Okavango. Includes a chapter on the general features of the Okavango and its people, as well as individual chapters about the history and practices of the Kwangari, Mbundza, Sambyu, Geiriku, and Mbukushu. Includes several black and white pictures.
• Dibebe of the Okavango: The Thrilling, Amazing Adventures of an African Herdboy in 1950 (2001) by Thomas J. Larson, foreward by Alec Campbell - A novel written in the 1960s about a Hambukushu boy, based on Larson's fieldwork in the Okavango Delta.
• The Hambukushu Rainmakers of the Okavango (2001) by Thomas J. Larson, foreward by Alec Campbell - Ethnography of the Hambukushu people based on a half century's worth of research. Focuses on ecological relationships but also has chapters about history, social and political organization, childhood, marriage, and other practices.
• Tales from the Okavango (2002) by Thomas J. Larson - Out of print - Compilation of Hambukushu folktales. Preview available at Google Books.
• From Oxford to the Okavango (2003) by Thomas J. Larson
• Kavango (1974) by Alice Mertens - Out of print - Photo essay about the Kavango People. Includes an introduction by W.A. de Klerk.

Books about the Environment and Wildlife of the Okavango Delta

• The Okavango River: A Narrative of Travel, Exploration, and Adventure (1861) by Charles John Andersson - An explorer's tales of the Okvango. Dated, but serves as a contrast between today and the 1850s. Preview available at Google Books.
• Okavango: Africa's Wetland Wilderness (1999) by Adrian Bailey - Out of print
• Okavango: A Journey (2006) by Adrian Bailey and Robyn Keene-Young - Photo book divided into three sections: air, water, and land. Full color photos on every page. Preview available at Google Books.
• Okavango: An African Paradise (1992) by Daryl Balfour - Out of print
• Into the Okavango: The Africa Poems and Photographs (2005) by Marianne and Robert Burgoyne
• The Swamp Book: Perspective and Description of the Natural Elements and Resources of the Okavango Delta (1990) by Bob Forrester - Out of print
• Okavango: Sea of Land, Land of Water (1997) by Peter Johnson and Anthony Bannister - Out of print
• Okavango: Africa's Last Eden (1993) by Frans Lansing - Out of print - Photo book that mostly features wildlife and environment and stresses the importance of conservation.
• Running Wild: Dispelling the Myths of the African Wild Dog (1997) by John McNutt and Lesley Boggs; Photographs by Helene Heldring and Dave Hamman - Out of print - Addresses not just animals but important issues regarding the relationship of people to wildlife.
• Okavango River - The Flow of a Lifeline (2004) by John Mendelsohn and Selma el Obeid - Out of print - About the Okavango River's geography and the people that are affected by it. Full color book with many maps and photos. Preview available at Google Books.
• Mombo: Okavango's Place of Plenty (2004) by Mike Myers - Out of print
• Okavango: Jewel of the Kalahari (1998) by Karen Ross, Photos by Michael Rosenberg - Out of print - Mostly focuses on wildlife, but chapter ten, "Land of the Hunter", is about the people of the Okavango Delta. Includes many color photos. Preview available at Google Books.
• Above Africa: Aerial Photography from the Okavango Swamplands (1989) by Clive Walker - Out of print
• Okavango from the Air (1992) by Clive Walker - Out of print

Travel Books

• Okavango: A Field Guide (2009) by Lee Gutteridge and Tony Reumerman
• Botswana and Namibia (2007) by Paula Hardy and Matthew D. Firestone - Lonely Planet travel guide. Most of the section on the Okavango Delta is available on Google Books.
• Botswana: Okavango Delta, Chobe, Northern Kalahari (2003) by Chris McIntyre - Bradt Travel Guide about Botswana. Focuses mainly on wildlife tourism. Preview available on Google Books.

Your local university or public library may have out of print or other books about the Okavango Delta Peoples or be able to order them for you through Inter Library Loan. Or your local book seller, an African book specialist such as African Books Collective, other African book dealers or publishers, or Amazon.com can search for them or order them for you. Bibliofind is a great web-based resource for out of print, specialty, and rare books. Also, the Botswana Society publishes many books, as well as the journal Botswana Notes and Records.

Articles & Short Chapters

Available to Read Online

• Northern Botswana Veterinary Fences: Critical ecological Impacts (1998) by Arthur Albertson
• Inland Waters of Southern Africa (1990) by Brian R. Allanson - Excerpt about the Okavango Delta from Google Books.
• Dynamic Earth Environments (2000) by Kamlesh Lulla and Lev V. Dessinov - Excerpt about the Okavango Delta from Google Books.
• Habitats of the World (2006) by Marshall Cavendish Corporation - Four page section about the Okavango Delta from Google Books.
• Wetlands (2007) by William Mitsch and James Gosselink - Short excerpt about the Okavango Delta from Google Books
• Indigenous Ecotourism (2007) by Heather Zeppel - Short excerpt about the Okavango Delta as a wildlife preserve from Google Books

In Edited Volumes

• Community-Based Tourism and the Marginalized Communities in Botswana: The Case of the Basarwa in the Okavango Delta by Joseph E. Mbaiwa. In Indigenous Tourism: The Commodification and Management of Culture. Chris Ryan and Michelle Aicken, eds. Pp. 87-109. Oxford: Elsevier Ltd.- Examines a community-based tourism program adopted by the Botswana government in the 1990s to address problems in Basarwa communities regarding relocation, attitudes about conservation, and poverty. Mbaiwa proposes that Basarwa communities must be further empowered to promote the sustainability of the tourism program.

Other Media

• Okavango: Africa's Wild Oasis (2000) by National Geographic - Out of print VHS
• Wild Africa Volume 2: Okavango, Chobe, Makgadikgadi (1997) Edited and photographed by Jerry Borrell - Out of print CD-ROM

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