Makgadikgadi Salt Pans & Nxai Pan National Park

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The night skies at the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans offer an unparalleled stargazing experience, far from the light pollution of cities. With its vast, open landscape and clear, dry air, the desert becomes a celestial observatory after dark. Visitors can marvel at the Milky Way stretching across the sky, with countless stars shimmering in the pitch-black expanse. On moonless nights, the stars are so bright that constellations like Orion, the Southern Cross, and the Scorpion seem to jump out of the sky. The unique stillness of the pans enhances the experience, making it feel as though you're floating in space, surrounded by the vastness of the universe. Whether you're an avid stargazer or a first-time observer, the night skies of Makgadikgadi offer a breathtaking and unforgettable spectacle.