Makgadikgadi is part of the part of the Kalahari Basin, an area of 12 000 sq km and home to one of the largest salt pans in the world. Arid, desolate and waterless for much of the year means that large mammals are thus absent.
As a result of years of good rain, the two largest pans, Sowa to the east and Ntwetwe to the west, have flooded which attracts wildlife including zebra, wildebeest and flamingos .at Sowa and Nata Sanctuary. Flamingo numbers can run into hundreds of thousands, and the spectacle is completely overwhelming.