Kalahari & Makgadikgadi Pans in Botswana

These two semi-desert areas are often overlooked but can be an essential part of any Botswana safari during the summer months between December and May.

The Central Kalahari Game Reserve with it extensive grasslands is reminiscent of the Serengeti plains and the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans which are in total contrast to the verdant, game-rich Okavango and Linyanti regions. This unforgiving land is the home of the Kalahari San Bushmen.

The Central Kalahari Game Reserve experience focuses on species unique to the area such as brown hyena, red hartebeest, gemsbok (Oryx), springbok and the huge black-maned Kalahari lion as well as animals which are rarer elsewhere such as the cheetah.

For a few months each year the Makgadikgadi region transforms into one of the most important wetland sites in Africa. When the rains come, the pans fill with water and they become the breeding ground for huge flocks of flamingo and other migratory birds. The rains also regenerate the grasses, which attract the last surviving migration of Zebra and Wildebeest in southern Africa which in turn sustain a full range of predators. The Makgadikgadi area also includes Nxai Pan National Park and the area around the permanent Boteti River which is home to a few white rhino that have migrated here recently from the Okavango Delta.