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The Kalahari Basin, also known as the Kalahari Depression, Okavango Basin or the Makgadikgadi Basin, is an endorheic basin and large lowland area covering approximately — mostly within Botswana and Namibia, but also parts of Angola, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The outstanding physical feature in the basin, and occupying the centre, is the large Kalahari Desert.
The perennial river bifurcation of Selinda Spillway (or Magweggana River), on the Cuando River, connects the Kalahari basin to the Zambezi Basin. Is this Harry and Meghan's honeymoon hotel?. The Telegraph. 29 May 2018.
A series of salt pans lie in the lowest points of the basin, including the Nwako Pan south of the Okavango Delta and the vast Makgadikgadi Pan southeast of the Delta. At times of high flow, the Okavango spills into the Nwako Pan via the Xudum and Nhabe distributaries to replenish Lake Ngami, a saline lake, and into Lake Xau and the western end of the Makgadikgadi Pan via the Boteti distributary. The was built on the Boteti to provide water to the Orapa diamond mine. Okavango Delta. UNESCO World Heritage Centre. 2019.
The Selinda Spillway, also known as the Magweqana, Magwekwana or Magweggana, is a distributary channel that connects the Okavango Delta to the Cuando River, a tributary of the Zambezi River. In periods of very high water in the Okavango, the water flows eastward towards the Cuando-Linyanti-System. The last time this happened was in August 2009 after 30 years of falling dry. In times of high water in the Kwando, the water can flow west from the Cuando towards the Okavango Delta, but often evaporates before it reaches the delta.Thomas, David.; Shaw, Paul A.. The Kalahari Environment. Cambridge University Press, 21 February 1991
Other streams in the basin include the Eiseb, an intermittent stream that originates in Namibia's Herreroland and flows east into the Okavango Delta, and the Nata River, which originates in western Zimbabwe to flow into the eastern end of the Makgadikgadi Pan.
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