The great Kalahari Desert is a vast expanse of sand mostly arid and untouched for a millions of years. A complex of huge, flat salt pans lies in the middle of the northern Kalahari. It’s an isolated landscape with a very interesting history and geology.

The Makgadikgadi Pans cover 10,000 sq.km of the desert. Nwetwe and Sowa are two major pans and along with smaller pans make up the Makgadikgadi Pans. The Makgadikgadi National Park is an area of 3900 sq. km that includes the western end of Ntwetwe in the east to the Boteti River in the west, south east of the Okavango Delta and surrounded by the Kalahari Desert. The northern boundary of the reserve is fanned by the Nxai Pan National Park separated by the Nata-Maun road. On opposite sides of the Makgadikgadi National Park are two contrasting areas: the Central Pans and the Boteti River Area.

An interesting conservation project is the Nata Bird Sanctuary, located in the extreme northeast of the Sau pan in the Makgadikgadi, about 170 km northwest of Francistown. Another place of interest is the Kubu Island near the southwestern shore of Sowa pan. This area also houses the world’s largest diamond pit mine.