Nxai Pan and Baines' Baobabs

Nxai Pan is a fossil lake bed north of the Makgadikgadi salt flats, and its rhythm is the reverse of most safari destinations: the rains from December turn the pan's grassland green and pull in one of Africa's longest zebra migrations, along with springbok, wildebeest and the predators that follow. Cheetah do well on the open ground. On the pan's southern edge stands a cluster of vast baobabs that the artist Thomas Baines painted in 1862 - the trees are recognisably the same today, which makes standing among them an unusual kind of time travel. Nights here bring some of the darkest skies in Africa.

What you actually see

• The green-season zebra migration - thousands of animals arriving with the rains.
• Baines' Baobabs - the painted grove, barely changed in over 160 years.
• Cheetah on open grassland - the pan's signature predator.
• Night skies - among the least light-polluted anywhere.

When to go

December to April is the surprise season here, when rain greens the pan and the zebra arrive - the opposite of most Botswana parks. The dry season still offers game around waterholes with far fewer visitors. Roads inside are deep sand year round.

Honest expectations

Access is 4x4-only with genuinely deep sand, and self-drivers need experience, recovery gear and enough fuel range - there is nothing inside the park. Campsites are basic and must be booked in advance. In the dry season the pan can look empty for long stretches; the wildlife concentrates near waterholes. Summer heat on the pan is extreme.

Nearby

Makgadikgadi Pans, the Boteti river and the road toward Maun.