The Makgadikgadi stretch from horizon to horizon, and in the heat of the day, the mirage create the image of water in the distance. But it is an dry place with an magic and intense blue skies.
The remoteness and inaccessibility of the pans, all add to their allure in this semi-desert Kalahari region of Botswana.
About the Pans.
The Makgadikgadi is a wide open expanse filled with gentle colour and its own unique beauty, that seem to change with the change of day-light. The Makgadikgai pan is the largest salt-pan in the world, and covers about 12, 000 square kilometres. In the distant past, the pan was part of one of the largest inland lakes in Africa.
The area is comprised of the Sua and Ntwetwe pans. During the heat of the late winter day the pans become a shimmering mirage of disorienting and ethereal austerity. The large number of small villages and the small stone age tools and other artefacts that can be found scattered around the islands (for example on Kubu Island), all point to the fact that the Makgadikgadi Pans have supported human habitation, and their livestock, for a very long time. At one time the Makgadikgadi Pans was important as a major trade route.
In September large herds of antelope, zebra and wildebeest roam the dusty plains awaiting the first rains. On their arrival the waters turn the pans into a perfect mirror of the sky, distorting all sense of place and time. Although these rains are short lived, in December another deluge turns the edges of the vast pans into waving fringes of green grassland where herds of wildlife converge to partake in the bounty.
Flocks of birds arrive to build their nests along the shoreline of the Nata River, in Sua Pan, and feed on algae and crustaceans that have been lying dormant in the salt and sand awaiting the drenching rains.
The water-rich
Okavango Delta and her flood-plains forms the centre-point of Botswana's main wildlife areas. With the Moremi, Savuti and Chobe Reserves bordering the Delta.
A little bit south and part of the
Kalahari Desert region of Botswana, is the Makgadikgadi and Nxai Pans.
Both conservation areas are in total contrast to the rest of Botswana's wildlife areas, as this has more of an desert climate. Yet, after the summer rains, these dry pans are covered in green grass, and as if magical, suddenly filled with thousands of various antelope species and huge flocks of birds. Various
Botswana safaris has scheduled departures geared for this time of the year.
These wildlife areas are home to an spectacular diversity of wildlife and birdlife. Famed for the huge herds of elephants and buffaloes, various antelope and naturally the predators that prey on them.