The Makgadikgadi Pans in Botswana span over 16 000 square–kilometers in the Kalahari Basin. They are the largest network of salt pans in the world. These vast, flat, endless, dusty, greyish, salt–encrusted pans are the remains of an ancient super–lake: Lake Makgadikgadi, which once covered an area larger than Switzerland, but dried up tens of thousands of years ago.
Technically, Makgadikgadi is not a single pan, but consists of a series of pans – the largest of which are Sua, Nwetwe and Nxai pans. Among the pans are large tracts of salt pans interspersed with sandy desert in between, palm islands, grasslands and savannah.
At night the vast Makgadikgadi landscape feels like a planetarium, with a 360 degree view of both the pans and star–filled skies, creating an amazing and simply unforgettable experience!
A combination of soaring temperatures and the extremely arid climate make this captivating wilderness quite inhospitable for most of the year. Surprisingly, however, you’ll spot flora and fauna here that has adapted to life in a desert.
After good rains this desolate, harsh, dry, salty landscape transforms into lush, nutritious wetlands. The pans are filled with water and the new grass attracts thousands of animals. These include large flocks of flamingos and a plethora of other migratory waterfowl such as pelicans, ducks, geese and many more, turning Makgadikgadi Pans into a real paradise for any bird lover.
Equally as remarkable are the big herds of zebra, wildebeests, elephants, springboks and other herbivores, followed closely by predators, making for fantastic game viewing.
