A mokoro (also spelled ''makoro'', Setswana-English-Setswana Dictionary, Macmillan Botswana, 4th edition) is a type of

dugout canoe A dugout canoe or simply dugout is a boat made from a hollowed-out tree. Other names for this type of boat are logboat and monoxylon. ''Monoxylon'' (''μονόξυλον'') (pl: ''monoxyla'') is Greek''mono-'' (single) + '' ξύλον xylon'' (tr ...

commonly used in the

Okavango Delta The Okavango Delta or Okavango Grassland is a vast inland delta in Botswana formed where the Okavango River reaches a tectonic trough at an elevation of in the central part of the endorheic basin of the Kalahari Desert. It is a UNESCO Wor ...

and on the

Chobe River The Cuando (or Kwando) is a river in south-central Africa flowing through Angola and Namibia's Caprivi Strip and into the Linyanti Swamp on the northern border of Botswana. Below the swamp, the river is called the Linyanti River and, farther east ...

Botswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...

. It is propelled through the shallow waters of the delta or the river by standing in the stern and pushing against the riverbed with a pole, in the same manner as punting. The plural in

Setswana Tswana, also known by its native name Setswana, is a Bantu language indigenous to Southern Africa and spoken by about 8.2 million people. It is closely related to the Northern Sotho and Southern Sotho languages, as well as the Kgalaga ...

is ''mekoro''. Mokoro are traditionally made by digging out the trunk of a large straight tree, such as

ebony Ebony is a dense black/brown hardwood, coming from several species in the genus '' Diospyros'', which also includes the persimmon tree. A few ''Diospyros'' species, such as macassar and mun ebony, are dense enough to sink in water. Ebony is fin ...

and African sausage tree. Modern mokoros, however, are increasingly made of

fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) is a common type of fibre-reinforced plastic, fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened i ...

, one of the advantages of which is the preservation of large trees. Mokoro safaris are a popular way for tourists to visit the delta and river, much of which is located in

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewood ...

s, but the boats are still a practical means of transport for local residents to use to move around the swamp. The boats are very vulnerable to attack by

hippopotamus The hippopotamus (''Hippopotamus amphibius;'' ; : hippopotamuses), often shortened to hippo (: hippos), further qualified as the common hippopotamus, Nile hippopotamus and river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Sahar ...

, which can overturn them with ease. Hippopotamus are reputed to have developed this behaviour because mokoros and other boats have been used for hunting.

References

Canoes {{ship-type-stub

See also

References