The Cuvelai Basin, a transboundary wetland area shared by Angola and Namibia covering nearly 160,000km2. It consists of hundreds of drainage channels, called iishana, many of which are dry for most of the year, but prone to extensive flooding during the rainy season due to the very flat nature of the terrain. The channels flow from north to south, from the southern Angolan highlands to Namibia’s Etosha pan. It is an “endorheic” basin with all its water converging into the Omadhiya Lakes and Etosha Pan, or evaporating along the way. Under the surface there are groundwater reserves, as yet not always well quantified but thought to be significant in parts of the basin where they are already a vital source of water for many people.
Click the button below for more about the geography, climate, water resources and ecology of the Cuvelai River basin, follow the river from the highlands in Angola to the Etosha Pan in Namibia.
Begin your journey through the river basin
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