Destination Focus: The Makgadikgadi

The biggest salt pans in the world – covering an area of over 15,000 km2 – Botswana’s Makgadikgadi region is, quite simply, unlike anywhere else on earth. 

Less than an hour’s flight from Maun, this landscape was once a lake larger than Switzerland and as lush as the Okavango Delta. Tens of thousands of years ago it dried up due to seismic shifts. What’s left is a lunar-like landscape with seemingly endless open plains. 

Makgadikgadi Botswana

With only a handful of camps in the entire area, you truly have it all to yourselves.

The Magkgadikgadi have two contrasting seasons. During the dry season, the salt pans are arid and bare with limited wildlife creating an incredible sense of space. The rains bring life and the area becomes part of the second-largest animal migration in Africa; that of zebras and wildebeests. Tens of thousands of flamingos migrate to the water-filled pans for the season too.

Botswana Migration Season

Makgadikgadi is a place to get away from it all and find peace, serenity and beauty. Due to the keen contrasts, the salt pans are a great place to visit as part of any Okavango Delta itinerary. We hope you will feel inspired with our gallery below.

Salt Pans Okavango Delta
Botswana Horse Riding
Meerkat Botswana
Bushmen Botswana
Helicopter Botswana
Horse Riding on the Pans
Quad Biking Botswana
Zebra Migration Botswana
Botswana Camp

Photo credits: Thank you to  Natural Selection.

If you’d like to know more about a trip to Botswana that involves time in the Makgadikgadi please get in touch at [email protected]. We look forward to hearing from you.