Makgadikgadi Salt Pans, Botswana

Over 16,000 square kilometers, these pans in northern Botswana are the world’s largest salt flat complex. It forms the bed of an ancient lake that started evaporating 10,000 years ago. They fill with water just once a year when the rains fall, attracting an abundance of game and birdlife to this region of Botswana. The area is home to one of Africa’s biggest zebra populations.

The annual rains bring life to the wild grasses which attract the last surviving migration of zebra and wildebeest in southern Africa – a spectacle not to be missed! The Uncharted Africa Safari Company have some magnificent accommodation options in the Pans including Planet Baobab and Camp Kalahari. Another attraction in these Pans is Kubu Island – a rocky outcrop engulfed by the white sea of salt.

This region has inspired humans for centuries. To include some imagination into your itinerary, contact us.

Kalahari Meerkats

Many wildlife documentaries have been made about these comical creatures, members of the Mongoose family. Spend hours watching the antics of these delightful animals. Unlike humans, they are immune to the venom of Kalahari scorpions. Driving around you will often see adults standing on their hind legs, streching up to see as far as possible. This adult is on sentry duty and will alert the group when there is danger. Meerkats have been known to use humans as lookout posts!

Kubu Island

Most famous of all the rock islands in the Makgadikgadi Pans, Kubu Island differs from the other ancient sand dune islands as it is a granite rocky outcrop. Rising no more than 20 metres above the salt pans, it is stained white with fossilised bird droppings from the large population that once lived on the island. Kubu Island has many historical artefacts including Stone Age cutting tools, 2000 year-old shards of pottery and the remains of a low stone wall related to the great Zimbabwe ruins.

Planet Baobab

Part of the Uncharted Africa stable of accommodation choices, Planet Baoba's funky bar is a well known watering hole amongst travelers and Maun locals. Traditionally-styled Bakalanga huts with en suite showers are set amongst an area that is home to Baobab trees whose average age is 4000 years old! Elephants are not too far off when you dip in the pool after a hot and dusty day out on the Makgadikgadi Pans. Swop stories with fellow travellers around the communal fire at night.

Camp Kalahari

In memory of their founder's first visit to the area, Uncharted Africa set up this truly original camp amongst acacia trees and palms on the edge of the Makgadikgadi Pans. Sleep in twin bedded tents with en suite outdoor bathrooms and flush toilets in the middle of nowhere overlooking a vast salt pan that stretches as far as the eye can see across this enchanting lunar landscape.