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Wildlife Safaris in Makgadikgadi Pans
A vast complex of salt pans and grassland in north-central Botswana, the bed of a fossil super-lake once larger than Switzerland. Blinding white and cracked in the dry season, it floods green with the summer rains to host Southern Africa's largest zebra migration, habituated meerkats and rare brown hyena.
Why here
The Makgadikgadi is a different Botswana, a fossil super-lake now the size of Switzerland, its salt pans blinding white in the dry season and its grasslands flooding green when the rains come. Two encounters make it: a family of habituated wild meerkats that will use a still visitor as a lookout post, and the brown hyena, one of the world's rarest large carnivores with only around 8,000 left, which the pans offer a real chance to see. From December the summer rains trigger Southern Africa's largest zebra and wildebeest migration, tens of thousands of animals moving between the Boteti River and the Nxai grasslands, trailed by lion and cheetah. In the dry months guests quad-bike across the cracked crust to sleep out under desert stars.
Best months
The green season from November to April is the wildlife peak, when the migration arrives, foals are born and the pans fill with flamingos and grazers. Meerkats are viewable year-round and most active in the warmer months. The dry season from May to October flips the experience to the stark salt pans, quad biking and sleep-outs, with brown hyena and desert species around the camps. Access is by light aircraft or a road transfer from Maun or Nata.
Getting there & around
The Makgadikgadi is reached by light aircraft into camp airstrips or by road from Maun and the town of Nata, with some camps such as Planet Baobab sitting close to the tarred road for self-drivers. The two seasons offer opposite experiences, so match your timing to the migration and green grass or to the dry salt pans and quad biking. Camps arrange the meerkat visits, drives and pan excursions; book ahead in the December to March peak.
Skill levels: beginner, intermediate, advanced
Schools & guides (2)
Jack's Camp
OutfitterThe iconic Makgadikgadi camp, a Bousfield family creation now under Natural Selection, set among palms on the edge of the salt pans. Its nine vintage-styled tents anchor a place famous for habituated wild meerkats, walks with San Bushman trackers, and one of the few near-certain sightings of brown hyena, of which only around 8,000 survive. In the green season the zebra and wildebeest migration crosses the pans; in the dry season guests quad-bike out onto the cracked salt crust.
Planet Baobab
OutfitterA characterful, affordable Makgadikgadi base under Natural Selection, set among 17 giant baobabs whose average age tops 4,000 years. Its 18 thatched huts and campsite put guests within reach of Ntwetwe Pan game drives, Kalahari meerkats and dry-season quad biking. From December the summer rains bring the zebra and wildebeest migration, Southern Africa's largest and the continent's second, involving tens of thousands of animals. The camp backs the Makgadikgadi-Nxai Pans Conservation Initiative.