Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
NORTHEASTERN BOTSWANA
Makgadikgadi & Nxai Pans
The elemental power of Botswana's landscapes are nowhere more obvious than in the
country's north. Within striking distance of the water-drowned terrain of the Okavango
Delta, Chobe River and Linyanti Marshes lies Makgadikgadi, the largest network of salt
pans in the world. Here the country takes on a different hue, forsaking the blues and greens
of the delta for the burnished oranges, shimmering whites and golden grasslands of this
northern manifestation of the Kalahari Desert. It's as much an emptiness as a place, a land
larger than Switzerland, mesmerising in scope and in beauty.
Two protected areas - Makgadikgadi Game Reserve and Nxai Pans National Park, separ-
ated only by the asphalted A3 - preserve large tracts of salt pans, palm forests, grasslands
and savannah. Since both parks complement one another in enabling wildlife migrations,
the two were established concurrently in the early 1970s and combined into a single park in
the mid-1990s. Although they enclose only a fraction of the pan networks, the parks
provide a convenient focal point for visiting; the horizonless pans of Nxai Pan have gained
a reputation for cheetah sightings, while the return of waters to the Boteti River in the west
has led to a wildlife bonanza of wildebeest, zebra and antelope species pursued by lions.
But there are also some fabulous areas outside park boundaries, with iconic stands of
baobab trees and beguiling landscapes.
There are camps deep in the pans to suit a range of budgets, with good accommodation
choices also in the gateway towns of Nata and Gweta.
MAKGADIKGADI & NXAI PANS AT A GLANCE
Why Go?
Underrated wildlife watching, especially along the pretty Boteti River and the hallucinatory, horizonless landscape
of the pans.
Gateway Towns
Gweta, Nata and (at a stretch) Maun.
