Things to do in Central & Makgadikgadi
The Makgadikgadi's salt pans stretch to the horizon, ringed by grassland and ancient baobabs. Follow the wet-season zebra herds, watch habituated meerkats up close or ride a quad bike across the dry crust.
The Makgadikgadi's salt pans stretch to the horizon, ringed by grassland and ancient baobabs. Follow the wet-season zebra herds, watch habituated meerkats up close or ride a quad bike across the dry crust.
The Makgadikgadi pans are the dry bed of an ancient lake, and today Ntwetwe and Sowa pans form a white crust that runs to the horizon. In the dry season, from about May to October, the surface is hard enough for quad biking and nights sleeping out under the stars. When the rains arrive, usually from about December, the grass comes back and thousands of zebra and wildebeest move onto the plains.
Central is Botswana's largest district, stretching east from the Boteti River to Zimbabwe and South Africa. Makgadikgadi Pans National Park follows the Boteti, where zebra gather to drink in the dry months. Nxai Pan National Park, just north, holds the ancient trees of Baines' Baobabs. Habituated meerkats live on the edges of Ntwetwe Pan, and on cool mornings they often stand up to warm themselves a few metres from you. Camps here also run walks with San guides. Kubu Island, a granite outcrop studded with baobabs on Sowa Pan, is reachable by 4x4 only when the pan is dry. Sowa Town grew up around the pan's soda ash and salt works, and after good rains the Nata Bird Sanctuary further north can fill with flamingos.
East of the pans, the community-run Khama Rhino Sanctuary lies about 25 km north of Serowe, and game drives there often find white rhino grazing in the open. The Tuli Block, where Botswana meets South Africa and Zimbabwe, is a strip of private reserves with sandstone ridges and huge trees along the Limpopo. Night drives are allowed on this private land, and horse riding safaris suit experienced riders. Selibe Phikwe, a town built for its copper and nickel mine, is the main stop on the road east.
Most visitors drive east from Maun on the Nata road, with the park gates and pan camps a few hours away. Two or three nights is enough for most people. After heavy rain some tracks turn to thick mud, so a guided trip is easiest in the wet months. The pans pair well with the Okavango to the west.
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