Makgadikgadi and Nxai Pan National Parks in Botswana offer visitors a distinctly different experience, even though they are situated close to each other. They offer incredible safari experiences with some very different sightings. From the zebra migration to the shy meerkats.
One of the world’s largest salt pans, the Makgadikgadi Pans covers about 10,000 square km in nothing but salt. Some of the pans are enormous, others the size of small ponds. Around them are vast grasslands fringed with palm trees. The pans flood after the rains. Immediately, the desert blooms, attracting thousands of water birds to the shallow pools. The flamingos and pelicans flock to the salty waters. The animals of the plains, to the fresh grasses. The flamingos migrate from as far away as East Africa to filter the newly released nourishment and algae from the waters.
Makgadikgadi Pans flamingos
When the rains start to fall in November, the Makgadikgadi Pans are transformed into a time of plenty (even in the desert). The salt flats are turned into watery grasslands. Almost unrecognizable from the previous months. A layer of emerald green grass stretches out in every direction. Pink clouds of flamingo and flocks of migratory birds arrive to make their nests. And Africa’s second largest mammal migration of wildebeest and our black and white striped friends (Zebra) floods the plains. The green season in the desert is one of Africa’s greatest unpredictable spectacles. This makes it a magical time to visit.
The safari activities are similar in these months, although you usually won’t travel as far. On many days, you can see the wildlife directly from your verandah! The green season continues until mid-April and corresponds with the off-season for tourism in Botswana. Making it a slightly cheaper time to travel.
It is advisable not to drive to Makgadikgadi in the rainy season due to the roads being inaccessible. But the spectacle is great to see from the air, so book a flight into this area.
Makgadikgadi Pan Meerkats
Nxai Pan National Park
The Nxai Pan was once part of the great lake that covered central Botswana. Now they are mostly fossil pans, covered with good grasslands rather than salt.
Perhaps the focal point of Nxai Pan is the water hole that is only two kilometers from the entrance gate. In the midst of a large grassy plain, dotted with a few clumps of short umbrella thorn trees. Here, and within the mopane woodland, lion, giraffe, kudu, impala, ostrich, and large numbers of springbok are permanent residents. There is also a good population of jackals, bat-eared foxes, and numerous smaller creatures thrive. A fascinating bird life is drawn here too.
Once the rains have started, gemsbok, elephant, and zebra migrate to the area. Zebras are present in thousands and drop their young at Nxai Pan. Rivaling the spectacle of the multitude of young springbok, to further enhance game viewing opportunities.
This area offers the most incredible safari experience because game and bird life are abundant.
When to visit Makgadikgadi and Nxai Pan National Parks:
The dry season, from April to October, is the desert as you know it. With a shimmering whiteness enveloping the scorched landscape, like a mirage floating over the crusted salt, you’ll spot nomadic herds in the distance as if an illusion.
This is the time of year for whizzing across the pans on the back of a quad bike or horse. Or sleeping under the stars, and enjoying the pans in their most iconic, dazzling state.
The rainy season, between November and March, sees the annual zebra migration, the longest land mammal migration in Africa. Where up to 30,000 zebras and wildebeest migrate from the Okavango Delta in search of fresh grazing along the Boteti River in search of water. Closely accompanied by predators.
Speak to us to plan your Makgadikgadi and Nxai Pan trip now.
More information on Botswana’s safari destinations and useful information:
Makgadikgadi and Nxai Pans offer a wide range of accommodation options, catering to various preferences and budgets. Ensuring there’s something for everyone. Some of the camps offer quad biking expeditions and horse riding safaris. Sleep in the Pans for something unusual. Staying in the Makgadikgadi and Nxai Pans is wonderful for families in particular.
Meno a Kwena, an accommodation hidden gem of a camp perched on a rocky clifftop above the Boteti River overlooking the Makgadikgadi Pans National Park, Botswana
Iconic 1940’s style Jack’s Camp in Makgadikgadi Pans National Park offers stylish accommodation in luxury canvas tents – rates and offers for Botswana safari
Understated and affordable accommodation in Makgadikgadi, Camp Kalahari offers quad biking expeditions, horse riding safaris and is wonderful for families
San Camp is a romantic safari camp with its smattering of billowing white tents, shaded by desert palms on the edge of Nwetwe Pan in Makgadikgadi, Botswana
Nxai Pan Camp, the only permanent accommodation camp in Nxai Pan National Park where the second largest land animal (Zebra) migration in Southern Africa occurs.
