Opposite the fan shape of the Delta is the Panhandle into which the Okavango River flows. Darker areas indicate where the vegetation is more dense. The area is part of the Ngami Depression, located at the extreme southern end of the East African Rift System.

It is so flat here that water from the Okavango River takes a full six months to flow from the Panhandle to the Delta. The Delta may once have reached the sea, but geological movement cut off the water's route abandoning it to the desert sands. A massive 97 per cent of the water evaporates leaving only 3 per cent to disappear into the Kalahari.