Makgadikgadi Pans in Botswana : Makgadikgadi Pans Travel Guide

In times of rain, thousands of Wildebeest and Zebra migrate to the sweet nutritious grasslands and clouds of Flamingoe feed in its algae rich waters. It is an area of low rainfall so this spectacle only lasts a short while. The pans then revert back to being hostile salt-encrusted dust bowls with whirlwind dust devils gaining strength as they snake across the seemingly endless desert. This transformation from dry to wet is extreme and the experience unique. Around the edges of the pans are grasslands fringed with palm trees and peculiar looking Baobab trees - whose branches look more like roots, giving rise to the name 'upside down tree'.

No one can prepare you for the vastness of these gigantic salt pans, which are so large you could easily get lost forever. In 1989 explorer Jack Bousfield asked….'Makgadikgadi Pans, what is out there?' and was told 'Nothing - only idiots go there!' His response was 'Fine, that's the place for me.' His descendants are still here and own the famous Jack's Camp, which offers a unique way to come face to face with true isolation.

Makgadikgadi was once a superlake some 30 metres (100 feet) deep, covering a massive area of 80,000² km (30,888² miles). But as recent as 10,000 years ago, climatic shifts had already started to dry up Lake Makgadikgadi. Further evaporation turned the lake into large pans with a surface glistening with salt. Only odd rocky outcrops or large isolated sand dunes interrupt the flat, endless landscape.

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These inhospitable pans are almost devoid of human habitation, but peripheral villages and artefacts found around the pans is evidence that people lived here even in the Stone Age. These days the only people daring to cross these hostile pans are lodge guests exploring the area on quad bikes. The remote lodges and camps of Makgadikgadi offer a really unique safari and give you the rare opportunity to experience real solitude.

Only a small section of pans occur within the Makgadikgadi Pans National Park, and the largest pans in the world are outside the park boundaries. These include Ntwetwe Pan and Sowa Pan. Sowa is renowned for its rainy season Flamingo population and abundance of other water birds, which can be seen from the Nata Bird Sanctuary in the north of Sowa Pan.

Apart from salt pans, Makgadikgadi Pans National Park contains pure grasslands, poor scrubland and riverine woodland with perennial pools containing resident Hippo. Palm trees grow in clusters and distinctive 'upside down' Baobab trees are dotted around. Growing on rises between the pans is short, yellow, saline resistant, 'Prickly Salt Grass'. The interior is mainly scrub and grassland with patches of Camel thorn acacia and tall swaying Real Fan Palms.

Climate:

Dry season:

According to the lodges of Makgadikgadi, the best time to visit the area is during the dry season from March to September. These months include the winter period where days are lovely and warm, but nights become shiveringly cold. From April to November great numbers of Antelopes, Wildebeest and Zebra move from the south-east pans towards the Boteti River in the west, where rain is expected to fall in November. From August to November the wind starts picking up and huge whirlwinds build in intensity as they skid across the flat pans.

Rainy Season:

The rains usually begin in November and ends in about March and the pans can retain water until April or May. The area becomes transformed as grasses sprout and the salt pans fill with algae soup. The largest breeding flock of Flamingoe in Africa congregate here. Unfortunately, even 4x4 vehicles get bogged down in the instant mud at this time of year and most lodges are closed. Therefore, a fly-in safari is the best way to see the amazing influx of birds. Summer rainy season temperatures reach 40°C (104°F) in the day, while nights are mild and warm.