Life and Death in the Extraordinary Makgadikgadi Pans

This photo was taken in the Makgadikgadi Pans National Park in Botswana. It is a remarkable, remote place that lies southeast of the Okavango Delta and is surrounded by the Kalahari Desert. Following rain, the Makgadikgadi Pans become an important habitat for migrating animals and the large predators that prey on them. A dry, salty clay crust most of the year, the pans are seasonally covered with water and grass, and are then a refuge for birds and animals in this very arid part of the world. Most of the water in this area comes from the Nata River which starts in Zimbabwe near Bulawayo. A smaller amount of water is supplied by the Boteti River from the Okavango Delta.

Our Botswanan guide had taken us on the Boteti River the day before our Makgadikgadi Pans National Park experience and the river was full of water and teeming with life. We had a picnic lunch sitting in a small tin boat surrounded by elephants enjoying the Boteti swollen with seasonal rains. Our delicious picnic was packed by our lodge and included sandwiches, fruit and some powerful home-brewed ginger beer as well as some local beer. We also sampled the national dish of Botswana which is called Seswaa. It consists of a meat stew served over thick polenta or pap. I felt like stretching out a hand and offering a baby elephant a sandwich or a piece of watermelon but discretion (and some wise advice from our guide) kept all hands inside our little tin boat. Some of the younger elephants frolicked in the water quite close to the boat and seemed unperturbed by our presence.

On the return journey to our safari lodge, our guide identified many of the migratory birds the wet season brings to the area including pelicans, flamingos, ducks and geese. We also saw a dead hippopotamus floating in the river that our informed guide thought had probably lost an encounter with one of the large predators, most likely a lion.

But we must return to the giraffe waiting patiently near the baobab tree scanning the surroundings waiting for a safe opportunity. The giraffe wanted to go the watering hole, which is fed by the Boteti River, but there was a lion prowling around. Because of the stance a giraffe must assume, it is very vulnerable when it is drinking so a prowling lion is a considerable deterrent. Earlier in the day we had seen a dead zebra so we knew a large predator was somewhere in the area. We watched for nearly an hour while a parade of elephants complete with young came to drink and play in the waters of the Boteti River. A dazzle (the preferred collective noun for a herd of zebras in Botswana) of zebras spent time at the waterhole protected, on this occasion by their numbers. Some of the dazzle were always on the lookout for danger lurking in the thick scrub. The adult zebras kept watchful eyes on their young and kept them corralled carefully among the adults. At a given signal, unseen by observers like us, the zebras moved away from the waterhole and they too disappeared into the surrounding bush.

Eventually, either the giraffe sensed the lion had moved elsewhere or thirst overcame his caution and he went to the waterhole, spread his legs wide and bent his head to drink - his vulnerability at that moment apparent to anyone fortunate enough to witness the sight. We held our breath while the giraffe drank but no lion appeared and the giraffe regained his magnificent height and walked back into the scrub of the Makgadikgadi Pans. Perhaps the lion’s hunger was already satisfied by the dead zebra we had seen earlier or perhaps it was the giraffe’s instinct for preservation but that day he was safe and walked majestically back through the baobab trees of the pans.