There are terraces all over the Andes. It seems like there must have been a much larger population to require all those terraces, or people have lived there for a very, very long time. Do you happen to know if salts build up in terraces over time, making them eventually unviable?
Maras Salt Terrace, Peru
Salt would hardly have been an issue in the Okavango Delta, it's still flowing with bounteous fresh water today.