Description
I took these photos while on a canoe Trip with traditional mokoro boat on the river through Okavango Delta
The waterlilies family, Nymphaeaceae, is an old and evolutionarily primitive one. ‘Numphaios’ is ancient Greek and means sacred to the nymphs. A ‘nymph’, in Greek and Latin mythology, is a minor female nature deity and they were the crafters of nature’s wild beauty. The meaning of the specific epithet ‘nouchali’ has only been traced with the assistance of staff at Kew who reported, to the South African National Biodiversity Institute, that one of their specimens contains a note that Noakhali is a district in Bangladesh. ‘Caerulea’ is from Latin meaning blue and refers to the flower colour. The genus Nymphaea consists of roughly 40 species found in tropical and temperate climates of both hemispheres. The family is full of synonymy, because different populations, or colour forms, have been described as separate species. These have since been sunk (combined back) into one species. In some cases the same plants have been described as different species by different botanists, or the name of one species has been misapplied to another species.
The Okavango Delta is a vast inland river delta in northern Botswana. It’s known for its sprawling grassy plains, which flood seasonally, becoming a lush animal habitat. The Moremi Game Reserve occupies the east and central areas of the region. Here, dugout canoes are used to navigate past hippos, elephants and crocodiles. On dry land, wildlife includes lions, leopards, giraffes and rhinos. However, the bird life in these regions are equally rich in diversity.
I took this photo while on my first Botswana Delta photo safari trip. April 2019.