Makgadikgadi Salt Pan Waterhole - Botswana

A glassy waterhole on the edge of the Makgadikgadi Pans near Jack's Camp, framed by tall makalani palms and an immense flat horizon stretching to the edge of the frame. Zebra, wildebeest, elephant, springbok, ostrich, and brown hyena all visit, with the camera running day and night to catch the full range of activity across both dry and wet seasons.

The Makgadikgadi is one of the largest salt pan systems on earth, covering around 12,000 square kilometres of northern Botswana. For most of the year it is a barren white expanse, but when seasonal rains arrive the pans briefly flood and trigger one of Africa's great wildlife events: a zebra migration of around 30,000 animals, the second largest on the continent.

The camera is operated in partnership with Natural Selection Foundation and Explore.org and streams continuously, meaning the quality of sightings changes dramatically between dry season, when animals concentrate around the few remaining water sources, and the green season after the rains.

Did You Know? The Makgadikgadi Pans are the remnants of an ancient super-lake called Lake Makgadikgadi, which covered an area larger than Switzerland around 10,000 years ago. When the rivers feeding it shifted course, the lake dried up completely, leaving behind the vast mineral salt crust visible today.

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