| African savannas with their high grasses and scatered trees and shrubs are the host of a rich biodiversity. The African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) is one of the most successful mammals in terms of geographical range and abundance. From the fringes of the Sahara to Southern Africa, this specie inhabits savanna grasslands and clearings within rainforests, even arid lands as long as there are rivers, lakes and swamps, which is the case in Northern Bostwana. This distant relative to domestic cattle lives in large mixed herds of several hundred that can reach sizes of several thousand animals at certains times of the year. Buffalo herds are constantly moving looking for good stands of grass. In the Okavango Delta, a fragile ecosystem, the buffaloes with a population of 30 000 plays a key role. They graze on tall grasses and play a pioneering role for others herbivores. The inland delta and its floodplains are a world-renowned destination for tourists and the eco-tourism industry is the second most important source of income for Botswana. Protected by parks and reserves, this ecosystem is nonetheless threatened by human activities such as dam projects and diversion of water for irrigation as well as by regional climatic variations linked to global climate change.
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