Makgadikgadi & Nxai Pan
White salt pans and Nxai Pan National Park: Kubu Island, Baines' Baobabs, photos with meerkats, and the zebra migration in the rainy season.
Makgadikgadi Pans & Nxai Pan lie in central Botswana, about 150–300 km southeast of the Okavango Delta. They are a group of salt pans left when the ancient Lake Makgadikgadi dried up, covering about 16,000 square kilometers, dominated by Ntwetwe Pan in the west and Sua Pan in the east. To the north is Nxai Pan National Park, and to the west is Makgadikgadi Pans National Park, bounded by the Boteti River. In the dry season (May–October) the salt flats are hard and brilliant white, and you can ride quad bikes, sleep out under the stars and take photos with meerkats; Kubu Island and ancient baobabs such as Chapman's, Green's and Baines' stand on the pans, and tens of thousands of zebras gather along the Boteti River. In the rainy season (December–April) the pans fill with water, Sua Pan and the Nata Bird Sanctuary welcome flamingos, and zebras and wildebeest migrate east to the pans and the Nxai Pan grasslands to calve. For access, Gweta and Nata on the A3 highway are the gateways, about 2–3 hours from Maun; ordinary vehicles can reach the camps, but entering the pans and the national parks requires a 4x4, GPS and a guide. Plan 2–3 nights; the area can be combined with the Okavango and Chobe. Nights are cold in the dry season, and the risk of getting stuck is high in the rainy season.
Top sights
- Makgadikgadi Pans – One of the world's largest salt pan systems, where the dry-season landscape stretches endlessly white. Visitors can get close to habituated…
- Kubu Island – A granite island on the southwestern edge of Sua Pan, covered with oddly shaped baobab trees and surrounded by endless white salt flats. It…
- Ntwetwe Pan Meerkats – A habituated meerkat mob on the edge of the western salt pan. At dawn, they emerge from their burrows and stand guard on visitors, making t…
- Nxai Pan National Park – An ancient lakebed park on the northern side of the Makgadikgadi Pans, covered in grassland. In the rainy season zebra and springbok give b…
- Baines' Baobabs – Seven giant baobab trees on the edge of Kudiakam Pan in the southern part of Nxai Pan. Painted by the explorer-artist Baines in 1862, the t…
- Planet Baobab (Gweta) – A distinctive camp in a baobab forest just outside Gweta village, with mud-and-thatch huts among the giant baobabs. It is a common starting…
- Sua Pan Flamingos – One of southern Africa's most important flamingo breeding grounds, the great eastern salt pan fills with water in the rainy season, drawing…
- Nata Bird Sanctuary – A community-run reserve at the northern end of Sowa Pan, where hundreds of waterbird species, including flamingos and pelicans, gather in t…
- Chapman's Baobab – A baobab with seven trunks on the edge of the pan, once thought to be Africa's largest. Explorers left their names here in the 19th century…
- Green's Baobab – A huge baobab on a sandy track south of Gweta, its trunk carved with the names of hunters and traders from the 1850s, including the Green b…
- Nxai Pan Waterhole – A man-made waterhole near the South Camp of Nxai Pan National Park, where elephants, giraffes and lions take turns drinking in the dry seas…
- Makgadikgadi Pans National Park (Boteti River) – The Boteti River bank on the western side of Makgadikgadi Pans National Park, where tens of thousands of zebras and wildebeest gather to dr…
Where to eat
- Planet Baobab Restaurant – Open-air restaurant and bar beneath a giant baobab, and the most decent meal stop on the Maun–Nata road.
- Gweta Lodge Restaurant – Lodge restaurant and bar in Gweta village, serving burgers and soup at lunch and a three-course dinner, with some table…
Itineraries
- Nxai Pan & Kubu Island Salt Pan Loop – Head east from Maun to see baobabs and meerkats, and cross the salt pans to camp on Kubu Island.
- Windhoek to Victoria Falls Overland Loop – Cross from Namibia along the Okavango River to the Delta and Chobe, ending at Victoria Falls.
- Victoria Falls, Chobe & Okavango Overland – An overland journey from Victoria Falls through Chobe and the salt pans to Maun, connecting rivers and the delta