Nxai Pan is a fossil lake that was and is part of the greater Makgadikgadi system, but quite unlike anywhere else in Botswana. Almost like a lost world, it is an island of relative plenty in a sea of parched and arid Kalahari sand. Relic of one of the world’s largest super-lakes, the Makgadikgadi dried up thousands of years ago as a result of the continued shifting of the earth’s crust. When the lake was formed, some five to seven million years ago, its shores were the setting for the mysterious transition
from ape to man.

Covered in nutritious, short grasses and small islands of acacia trees, the Pans attract vast numbers of desert herbivores, gemsbok, springbok, and giraffe as well as non true desert species. It is one of only three areas in Africa where impala and springbok are found side-by-side. Here you can find the rare and elusive brown hyena and be able to walk through the Kalahari with a gang of habituated, but, wild meerkats.

When rains fill the Okavango Delta in the North, the pans flood and come alive with countless flamingoes and other aquatic birdlife. A great migration of wild animals such as zebra, wildebeest and springbok congregate on the grass rich banks and islands of the pan, offering visitors unbeatable opportunities for outstanding game viewing.
But, when the waters dry up, the birds and animals migrate and the extraordinary ecosystem of the Makgadikgadi becomes the main attraction.