Makgadikgadi, together with her neighbour in the north - the Nxai Pan are the lowest parts of the Kalahari Basin. They are plains of enormous size covered with a thick layer of salty soil that turns into muddy terrain during the rainy season which attracts many mammals and birdlife.

Boteti River running through Makgadikgadi National Park is home to thousands and thousands of zebras as they come out from the thick bush, down to the river bed at noontime and in the dust the scenery turns into a game of shadows. Their numbers dramatically increase when herds start migrating from Central Botswana towards the Okavango Delta and Chobe River Channels. In fact, this is one of the second largest animal migration after Mara and Serengeti in Eastern Africa. Naturally, predators, carnivores, and scavengers follow this herd for possible prey and feeding opportunities.

Raptors perched on the branches of giant trees, especially African Fish Eagles, Tawny Eagles and Bateleurs watch for any movements in waters and on land, so does a variety of stork and pelican species too.

 

Nxai Pan National Park has two campgrounds: South Camp and Baines Baobabs.

 

South Camp is the highlands of the park where animals congregate around waterholes in open lands. Predatory action is seen when zebras and other antelopes migrate from central inland towards river channels in the north just before the dry season starts.

Baines Baobabs offers great photographic spectacles with their immense size and wisdom of thousands of years over salt flats further south. Some people call this land ‘The Serengeti of Southern Africa’. Nxai Pan is not a land of plenty in terms of wildlife; but, its landscape is breath-taking, especially in early and late lights of the day.

If you would like to camp under the protection of Baobabs, sleep under billions of stars, enthusiastic about Milky Way photography, astronomy, this location is made for you.