The Makgadikgadi Pans are the most visible remnants of a lake that is one of the world’s largest salt pans formed more than five million years ago. The great Makgadikgadi Pans Game Reserve implies a boundless open land, vacant of human habitation. However, villages on the circumference and in between the pans are evidence that the area has supported people as far back as the Stone Age.
The Makgadikgadi Pans fill with water just once a year when the rains fall usually beginning in November and ending in about March, the pans can retain water until April or May. From April to November great numbers of Antelope, Wildebeest and Zebra move from the south-east pans towards the Boteti River in the west, where rain is expected to fall in November. The rainy season attracts a spectacularrange of water birds and hosts the dramatic migration of the Wildebeest and Zebra in this region of Botswana. The area in the Makgadikgadi becomes transformed as grasses sprout and the salt pans fill with algae soup, large breeding flocks of Flamingo gather here. The best time to visit the Makgadikgadi Pans is during the dry season from March to September, these are the months of winter where the days are pleasant and warm, but the nights become cold.
Makgadikgadi Wildlife here includes: black-maned Kalahari lion, leopard, wild dog, cheetah, springbok, gemsbok, herds of wildebeest and zebra, brown and spotted hyena, and eland and other antelopes.Certain camps in the Makgadikgadi Pans have refurbished traditional East African 40's safari style accommodation that offer authentic, roomy, classic styled tents with private hot and cold showers, set into a palm grove.
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