Makgadikgadi Pans National Park

Lying southeast of the Okavango Delta and situated in the middle of the Kalahari Desert, Makgadikgadi Pans National Park is one of the largest salt pans in the world. The pan is all that remains of the former Lake Makgadikgadi, which once covered an area larger than Switzerland and dried up several thousand years ago.

Today the pan is home to the second largest zebra migration in the world. During the dry months from May to October over 25,000 zebra migrate from the southeast pans to the Boteti River in the west. The Boteti River draws plenty of wildlife, particularly in the dry season when the river is the only source of permanent water in the reserve. Birdlife is especially rich along the Boteti River, from red-billed queleas to rarer African fish eagles and wattled cranes. The rainy season brings migratory birds such as ducks, geese and Great White Pelicans, and the pan is home to one of two breeding populations of Greater Flamingos in southern Africa.