Makgadikgadi - Nxai Pan - Baines Baobabs

Although there are built-in ‘steps’ on the side of the safari vehicle to help passengers get in, Moscow borrows a step ladder from the lodge to make it easier for me. It makes a huge difference, and I don’t worry about hurting my back (or knee) as I climb up.

We make a really early start this morning, before sunrise, as we have a long way to drive today.

Zebra in the sunrise

Giraffe with baby

Jackal

Wildebeest

Crested Francolin

Steenbok

Juvenile Bateleur Eagle

The rutted tracks cast long shadows in the early morning light

Pale Chanting Goshawk

Kudu

Mr and Mrs Burchell's Sandgrouse

The female

The male

Cape Glossy Starling

Burchell's Zebra

Instead of exploring Makgadikgadi Pan National Park this morning, we head out through the exit on the opposite side to where we entered near the lodge. For a short distance of around five kilometres we travel along a smooth tarmaced road before entering another national park: Nxai Pans.

The long, straight, smooth road

The entrance gate to Nxai Pan National Park

The tracks here are less sandy, and more compacted, with a washboard-rutted effect, making it a rather bumpy ride. The effect on my body is giving me nightmare flashbacks to the time I went bobsleighing on the Lillehammer Olympic run, where my head was shaking so much that I dislocated nearly all the vertebrae in my neck. After what seems like an eternity of this shaking, I am beginning to wonder if Baines Baobabs are going to be worth all the discomfort!

A passing truck throws up clouds of sandy dust

Pale Chanting Goshawk

And he's off!

Northern Black Korhaan - a lifer (new species to us)

Yellow Billed Hornbill - affectionately known as the Flying Banana

Steenbok

This is where we are heading

This area is incredibly flat, with no tall bushes or trees to break the monotony.

Kudiakam Salt Pan

Once a vast inland lake thriving with life, this remote area is now a barren expanse of white nothingness, covered in a crust of brittle and cracked salt.

Baines Baobabs

We head straight for this famous landmark within the Kudakam Salt Flats. I have a very special reason for wanting to visit this place, and as soon as we arrived in Botswana I asked Moscow if it was at all possible. I had already checked out the map before leaving the UK, and worked out that the baobabs were within a day’s drive of our lodge, so I was delighted when Moscow confirmed he would indeed take us here today.

Baines Baobabs

The cluster of fat-bellied trees is named after Thomas Baines, a British landscape artist who painted the baobabs in 1862.

Bob Cheshire
A fellow wildlife photographer, my friend Bob sadly passed away a couple of years ago, and the following year our mutual friends Neil and Dee, who had spent several safaris with Bob and his wife Val in previous years, took some of Bob’s ashes to Botswana with them to scatter in the wilds of Africa, a continent that Bob loved dearly. Baines Baobabs became the final resting place of Bob’s remains. Neil kindly let me have a photo of the place where the ceremony took place, and as soon as I show Moscow the image, he declares: “I know exactly where that is”.

Neil's photo of the place where Bob's ashes ended up

Armed with a handful of edible rose petals and a photo of Bob from one of his safaris, I find the exact spot as shown in Neil's photo.

In a fitting tribute, the rose petals are scattered over Bob’s photo and land on the ground where they will be absorbed to join Bob’s remains on his final journey.

After the emotional ritual, we explore the strange-looking trees that grow on this small ‘island’ in the middle of a huge, empty salt pan.

Me and David in front of the fallen Baobab

David shows the size of the 'belly' of the tree

The trees are thought to be around 2000 years old

Moscow is dwarfed by this specimen

When other people start to arrive, shattering our peaceful and poignant visit, we get back in the safari truck and continue our drive around the edge of the enormous salt pan.

The pan is 200km long and 60 km wide, and the surface is covered in a knobbly layer of dried salt.

One area of the pan is dotted with thousands of jagged lumps of basalt rocks. Moscow explains that no one knows how they got here or where they originated. Fascinating!

They vary in shape but are generally the size of a house brick.

Picnic

We head for an empty campground where we have our lunch.

One side of the vehicle folds down to allow passengers to alight, and this can also be held in place to become a large picnic table.

Pasta salad with olives and feta, a refreshing carrot and pineapple salad, cold pizza, crumbly biscuits, and Bacon Cheddars

It looks like a nice place to camp, complete with a fire pit

Basic camp toilets are even provided

As we make our way back across the salt pan, we spot a dust devil in the distance.

Once we reach the grassy area of the pan, we see some more birds and even a couple of mammals.

Ant Eating Chat

Gemsbok

Steenbok

From here we retrace our steps out of Nxai Pan National Park and back to Makgadikgadi National Park for our afternoon game drive. More on that in the next blog entry. Oh, and in answer to the question I asked myself earlier - the answer is it was unequivocally worth the uncomfortable journey to get to the salt pans and Baines Baobabs!

Thank you to Undiscovered Destinations and their local partners for arranging this incredible Great Africa Adventure 2024.