Makgadikgadi Pans

The national park is situated roughly halfway between the towns of Maun and Nata, on the Francistown road. The name Makgadikgadi implies of a 'vast open lifeless land'. The pans are located in large areas to the south, east and north-eastern regions of the park. The rainwater that pours down on the pans is supplemented by seasonal river flows – the Nata, Tutume, Semowane and Mosetse Rivers in the east, and in years of exceptional rains, the Okavango via the Boteti River in the west. During this time, the pans can be transformed into a powder blue lake, the waters gently lapping the shorelines, and flowing over the pebble beaches – a clear indication of the gigantic, prehistoric lake the Makgadikgadi once was.

The Makgadikgadi & Nxai Pans National Park is situated roughly halfway between Maun and Nata on the Francistown road in northern Botswana. The turnoff is 160 kilometres east of Maun and 45 kilometres west of the small village of Gweta, which has the nearest lodge accommodation, fuel and supplies.