After our disappointing time in Khwai and Moremi, we were a bit done with staring into (empty) bushes, aka safaris. So we decided to see some landscapes in between! From Maun, we drove to Nata in one day, and then on to Makgadikgadi Pans national park. This park also has some animals, but it’s mainly famous for its large salt pans that you can in parts drive across. On our way down South to Kubu Island, it was first more bushes and grassland that we encountered though.

Kubu Island is a pretty island full of baobab trees. We camped right at the edge of the pan to see the trees in the beautiful evening light and witness the sunset over the pans. It was beautiful and definitely something different than bushes!

Next day, we drove back „up“ on a different route, to Gweta. This time, the route led us across the pans – which was really cool at first!

At first, until the pans became wetter and muddier and we got more and more worried about getting stuck. I ended up walking halfway across one pan, with Mathijs driving behind me, to ensure the ground was solid enough. At one point though, there was just no good way to go. And surely enough, this was where we got ourselves stuck! Oops. After trying some ways to get out and a mud-shower for me (trying to push is not always the best idea), we luckily made it out! We were quite relieved I must say…

The rest of the drive was easy and dry, passing by some famous baobabs up to Gweta where we were happy to see the pool at Planet Baobab Camping waiting for us. Just what we needed after our mud adventures!

From here, we drove to Nxai Pans the next day. Here, the pans are less visible, more overgrown by plants, and there are more animals. Safari time again! We spent again one night in the park, driving around the day before and half the day afterwards. Well… while there weren’t loads of animals again, we did get a bit luckier than in Moremi and Khwai: Mathijs spotted a lioness hidden in a bush, who, after waiting for a bit, stood up and went for a drink. At least, a little lion show for us!

Also, Nxai had one really good waterhole where there were always some animals. This is something we missed it Moremi. Just being able to sit there and watch. At one point, more and more elephants came in for a drink and there was plenty of action! They seemed to be from different groups and not always friendly with each other.

Nxai Pans is a small national park, but it was quite nice to visit and provided some easier animal sightings again.