Makgadikgadi Salt Pans & Nxai Pan National Park
Makgadikgadi Salt Pans & Nxai Pan National Park
Pronounced "Makgadikgadi," these salt pans in the centre of Botswana are the remnants of the largest lake in Africa, which dried up thousands of years ago. The shimmering white, deadly landscape adds to Botswana's adventurous reputation, with only the bravest of early explorers having the courage to try and cross the seemingly endless wasteland.
We are fortunate nowadays to explore these pans from the comfort of a 4x4, and the luxury of lodges with swimming pools and shaded tents. However, even with these amenities, the Makgadikgadi Pans evoke a sense of adventure in travellers. Including the salt pans in a Botswana safari adds to the remarkable variety of your holiday, and to the beauty of your photo album.
North of the main pans is Nxai Pan National Park, which is a stunning destination for nature lovers and safari enthusiasts. The park is famous for its vast grass plains, seasonal salt pans, and diverse wildlife, including elephants, zebras, bat-eared foxes, leopards and lions. During the wet season, the landscape transforms, attracting migratory animals and a wide variety of birdlife, making it a prime spot for birdwatching and wildlife photography.
A highlight of the park is the ancient Baines' Baobabs, a cluster of majestic baobab trees that offer a striking backdrop for visitors. The dry season reveals a different beauty, with golden plains and wildlife gathering around scarce water sources, creating serene and memorable moments.
Nxai Pan is a hidden gem in Botswana, offering an authentic African safari experience where untamed nature and breathtaking scenery provide the perfect escape for adventurers and travelers alike.
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Bushmen Walks
The San Bushmen have been inhabitants of Botswana and the Kalahari Desert for thousands of years; so who better to guide you and teach you about the area?
Some camps offer bushmen interaction experiences and guided walks, where you will learn about their ways of surviving the harsh conditions, and gain insight into the local culture.
Game Drives and Wildlife
Despite the harsh conditions, the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans do attract a variety of wildlife, especially during the wet season, when a large migration of zebra passes through the area.
Flamingoes also flock to the pans after the rains, when the water leaves a shallow mirror, which offers some wonderful reflections of sunsets. The pans are one of the most important breeding grounds for flamingoes in Africa.
Found around the pans are lions, gemsbok, springbok, and it is one of the great areas to see the brown hyena. Camps offer game drives around the pans in search of these animals.
Meerkats
The best place in the world to interact with wild meerkats is along the grassy plains adjacent to the salt pans.
Offered by certain camps, this is a highlight for children and adults alike, with a great test being to sit as still as possible to try and act as a sentinel post for one of the look-outs.
These are fascinating and busy creatures, who take as much interest in us as we do in them.
Nxai Pan National Park
Just north of the Makgadikgadi National Park, across the main Nata - Maun road, lies Nxai Pan National Pan, excellent during and just after the wet season. The park is particularly well known for the masses of springboks, as well as great predator sightings.
Baines' Baobabs are a famous group of Baobab trees which were painted in 1861 by the explorer and artist Thomas Baines.
Peace and Quiet
Besides any noise from fellow travellers and the wind, there is nothing on the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans to make a sound.
The white pans extend ahead of you for eternity, with not a human structure in sight or any sign of life.
It is a wonderful experience to be able to chill out and completely unwind, forgetting that the rest of the world is continuing at its fast pace.
Quad-biking
If the above peace and quiet isn't exactly your thing, some camps offer quad-biking trips over the pans, where you can speed to your heart's content, without needing to turn a corner for a few hundred kilometres!
Although only available in the dry season, driving out into the pans on a quad-bike is a must do if you are there at the right time and you are keen to let your hair blow back and go full throttle.
