Sowa Pan, Botswana

The Bushman word for salt is 'Sowa' - an apt description of the vast white expanse of the largest natural Salt Pans in the world. During the rainy season the Nata River carries water into Sowa Pan filling the northern part of the pan and attracting an array of waterbirds including flamingos, pelicans, ducks and teals.

Sowa pan and the western Ntwetwe are important breeding sites for both greater and lesser flamingos who migrate here from Etosha in neighbouring Namibia and as far as East Africa. Brine shrimps, worms and tiny crustaceans provide food for greater while lesser flamingos feed on algae. These food types all flourish in the warm shallow waters of the pans.

In the dry winter months bustards and korhaans can usually be found in the grass fringes of the pan accompanied by migratory birds including kites, eagles and bee-eaters.

Birdlife is protected by the Nata Bird Sanctuary, a private sanctuary 17km south of Nata village.

There are very few rock islands in the Makgadikgadi, but in southern Sowa a scattering of granite islands lie on the white surface like beached whales. All have unique characteristics that give this desolate place its mesmeric attraction. Of all the islands, Kubu is the most famous.

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