The Panhandle isn't a prime area for game viewing, so don't come here expecting masses of big game or you'll be disappointed. That said, you may catch glimpses of the occasional sitatunga or small herds of lechwe, and you're almost bound to see numerous hippo and crocodile.

However, there are some first-class areas for birding, and plenty of areas with deep-water channels and lagoons.

Flora

Looking from the Panhandle's banks, often all you can see is a gently swaying mass of feathery papyrus heads. Here, more than anywhere else in the Delta, the environment is polarised: there's deep-water channels, and there's the papyrus beds that surround them.

Occasionally you'll find sections of phragmites reeds and, when the waters are low, open stretches of sandbanks. Sometimes the odd day lily, Nymphaea nouchali caerulea, will take hold in a quiet inlet on the edge of the channel, but mainly the vegetation here is huge expenses of floating papyrus.

Birdlife

The birdlife here is as varied as anywhere in the Delta, though getting to actually see the birds that inhabit the papyrus can be tricky. Some of the more sought-after sightings here would be painted snipes, rufous-bellied herons, lesser jacanas, chirping cisticolas, brown-throated weavers and coppery-tailed and white-browed coucals. Greater swamp warblers and swamp boubous can often be heard calling from the papyrus, but are less easy to spot.

The Panhandle is a particularly good area for the white-backed night heron, whilst perching on the sandbanks look out for white-backed ducks (sometimes in large numbers), long-toed plovers, red-winged pratincoles and, of course, the Panhandle's most acrobatic birding attractions: African skimmers.

These distinctive, black-and-white birds fly south to the Delta between about September and December. They mainly come to breed on the sandbanks of the Panhandle which are then exposed while the water is low. Here they'll gather in small flocks, each pair excavating a shallow depression in the sand where they'll lay their eggs and raise their young.

One of the Delta's most amazing sights is to watch these birds feed. With long, graceful wings they fly fast and low, holding their elongated lower mandible just low enough to cut the water's surface. This is hollow and has sharp edges, shaped to minimise its drag in the water. When this touches a small fish near the surface, it is quickly raised against the upper mandible, trapping the fish firmly. I always marvel at their flying skill, moving their body in all directions whilst their bill traces a constant, steady path through the water.

Note that because they nest very near the waterline, on low sandbanks, their nests and young are very vulnerable to both predators and to damage from the wash caused by fast-moving motorboats. So boats operating in these areas should never be driven too fast.

Another spectacular migrant, better seen in the Panhandle than anywhere else in the Delta, is the carmine bee-eater. These come to southern Africa to breed, and stay from about October to March. They nest in large colonies, building their nests underground at the end of tunnels which they excavate into the side of sandy riverbanks. You won't forget the sight of hundreds of these bright carmine-pink birds twittering around a river bank that's holed with nests like a piece of Swiss cheese.

Above the water you'll always see fish eagles around. Marsh harriers and even the occasional migrant osprey are also sometimes seen. Beside the waters and papyrus there's the narrow band of thick riverine forest on the banks before the bush becomes that of the dry Kalahari. Here there's a wide variety of different birdlife – typical of any of the riverine areas in this region. Notable sightings here would include the tiny brown firefinch, Bradfield's hornbills, western banded snake eagles and Pel's fishing owls.