BOOKS & MUSIC
MEET THE AUTHOR
Freelance author and editor Grahame McLeod first travelled to Botswana in 1973 as an exploration geologist. He later worked there as a teacher and a textbook writer, gaining citizenship in 2009. Makgadikgadi Pans – A traveller’s guide to the salt flats of Botswana is the first guidebook to focus exclusively on the pans and surrounds, with an emphasis on the region’s unique geology, wildlife, climate and activities.
Why was a guidebook about the Makgadikgadi necessary? During my frequent visits to the pans, I often camped at Nata Lodge near Nata. I noticed that many South African visitors simply used the lodge as a one-night stopover on their rush to get to the Okavango Delta and Chobe National Park. But some of the world’s biggest salt pans are a mere 20km away!
The Makgadikgadi is special: The white pans shimmer under huge skies, surrounded by grassland that is home to Africa’s second-largest wildebeest migration (after Serengeti/Maasai Mara). So I asked myself: Why not encourage people to spend some days exploring the pans? Much of the area is easily accessible,
