Nwetwe and Sua Salt Pans

July 5, 2014 — Botswana

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Nwetwe Salt Pan

Nwetwe is part of the Makgadikgadi Pan that is made of many salt pans such as Nwetwe, Sua and Nxai. This network of salt pans was once covered by Lake Makgadikgadi that dried up some thousand years ago. The area is a vast network of salt pans that are separated by sandy desert and thorn trees.

It is a hard environment, but with some splendid landscapes.

Green's baobab.

The inscription made by Joseph Green.

This baobab is a national monument since it bears an inscription made by the explorer named Joseph Green. He left his mark on the tree in 1880.

This baobab's base measures 25 metres.

The ground is made of mud and salt. One must be extremely careful when driving on a salt pan since it is possible, even in the dry season, to get stuck in the mud and afterwards, it is hard to get out. I assisted some people that were stuck in the mud and it needed a lot of shovel work and at least 8 persons to get them out of their spot.

I meet these four persons at a filling station before I started my trip towards the salt pans. We went together for a while. In the evening, we made a collective dinner and we had a nice campfire for the rest of the evening.

The two travellers next to me are from Liechtenstein. We made some jokes about them. With a population of 30,000 inhabitants, the chance to meet one of them is rather low. We were saying that it was easier to spot a lion or a leopard than meeting someone from that country.

A collective dinner with friendly people in a superb spot.

Sua Salt Pan

The Sua Salt Pan is also impressive. Even though, it is possible to drive on it, it is necessary to be careful of the muddy area even in the dry season. It is possible to visit two islands offering magnificent landscapes. They are islands since they are surrounded by a lake of mud and salt. During the rainy season, they might be surrounded by water.