Kalahari Salt Pans

Splendid Isolation

In this modern world of cities and overpopulation, it is almost impossible to imagine a place of wide open, uninhabited spaces under an endless canopy of blue sky. The Makgadikgadi is such a place. The largest salt pan in the world, its silver-grey surface covers over 12,000km2 (7500 sq miles) of completely barren flatness, an area almost the size of Portugal. This vast complex bears testimony to the superlake that once covered much of northern Botswana. Thousands of years ago the courses of the Chobe and Zambezi rivers were diverted from the lake and, as it shrank, so the water’s salinity increased. All that was left was the sunbaked bed. Today, it is at the Makgadikgadi that visitors find the true peace and serenity of complete isolation. It is possible that there are still remote areas left to be discovered, while other areas have been occupied for thousands of years, rich with the remains of prehistoric settlements. Vast migrating herds of animals traverse the area and in the wet season thousands of water birds flock to the pans. There are numerous pans in the Makgadikgadi, but the three major pans are: Ntwetwe Pan south of Gweta, the largest pan in the system; Sowa Pan southwest of Nata; and Nxai Pan. 

MAKGADIKGADI AND NXAI PAN National Park

In 1993 the area of the Nxai Pan National Park was extended south to the main Gweta/Maun road, amalgamating it with the Makgadikgadi Pans Game Reserve. It was renamed ‘The Makgadikgadi and Nxai Pan National Park’ to form one vast unfenced park covering just under 7500km2 (2850 sq miles). Four-wheel-drive is recommended throughout this area, as even in the dry season the pan surface can be treacherous with the unseen water table lurking often just inches under the hard-baked surface. Once on the pans the exhilaration of speeding across the flat surface is unforgettable. While there are no fixed lodges or hotels in the park, there are several designated camp sites. This limits access to all but the fully equipped self-drive visitor, or those on tailor-made safaris.

Baines’ Baobabs
This remarkable cluster of trees, also known as the Seven Sisters, has been immortalized by photographers and painters over the years, including Prince Charles, but they were made famous by the painter and naturalist Thomas Baines who was the first to paint them during his expedition in 1862. Since this watercolour was done well over 140 years ago the scene has hardly changed except, sadly, for the growing amount of litter. The seven giant trees dominate a small island on the edge of the open grassless Kudiakam Pan. They create an ideal picnic spot and always afford visitors respite in their deep, cool shade. People often used to camp here, but now that this area has been incorporated in the national park this is no longer permitted, and it will be years before the area recovers from the damage of uncontrolled camping. To get to Baines’ Baobabs take the western turning at the Phuduhudu crossroads. After a short distance the road forks. Both routes lead to the baobabs, being wet and dry routes respectively. At 11km (7 miles), the dry route, which veers to the right, is the shorter and more attractive of the two routes, taking you along Kudiakam Pan to the baobabs. If the ground is wet or if there has been recent rain take the left route, which goes for just over 13km (8 miles), before you will see the trees on the right. Take the right turn and go for a further 3.5km (2 miles) along this track until you reach the landmark.

NXAI PAN

Unlike the salt pans which characterize the rest of the Makgadikgadi, Nxai Pan is covered with short sweet grass which provides good grazing and attracts large herds of springbok and impala. It is very unusual to see these two antelope species together on the same range and the only other place where this occurs to a significant degree is Etosha Pan in Namibia. Other game includes the desert-adapted gemsbok, giraffe, kudu, hartebeest, zebra, and the migratory wildebeest, as well as leopard, lion and hyena. Blue wildebeest, which are now by no means the most common antelope in the area, were once plentiful. In 1980 the last huge migration of these animals, reminiscent of the vast Serengeti migrations, crossed the Makgadikgadi. Over 100,000 animals were involved and the herd was over 16km (10 miles) long and 10km (6 miles) wide.

SOWA PAN

Sowa (or Sua) is the bushman word for salt, an apt description of this vast white expanse. Most visitors only access the eastern edge of Sowa Pan with short forays onto the outstretched surface from Nata Lodge or the Bird Sanctuary, but it is a vast area with several days being required to fully appreciate it. There are very few rock islands in the Makgadikgadi, but in southern Sowa a scattering of granite isles lie on the white surface like beached whales. All have unique characteristics that give this desolate place its mesmeric attraction. Of all the islands, Kubu is the most famous.

Kubu Island
Rising no more than 20m (70ft) above the pan, this national monument with its fossil beaches, stunted baobab trees and mysterious stone walls, leaves an indelible impression upon all who visit its water-worn shores. Many of Kubu’s rocks are stained white with fossilized bird droppings. This ancient guano is called apatite and bears testimony to a large bird population that used to live on the island, feeding off the fish of the waters that surrounded their rocky knoll. There is a trig-beacon on the island’s summit. The rocks on the northeastern side are all smoothed by wave action, while on the opposite leeward side are thousands of small, rounded pebbles, which used to protrude as a tiny wave-washed beach. As the level of this immense inland sea rose and fell, there were times when Kubu was deep beneath the waves, others when it lay exposed in a sea of sand and others when it hardly showed above the surface, surrounded by 100km (60 miles) of sea. There are no camping facilities on Kubu or the other islands of southwestern Sowa, but there are many idyllic spots overlooking the pan. Campers must bring their own firewood and must remove all their litter. A further 38km (24 miles) to the east lies the seldom-visited Kukonje Island.