Makgadikgadi Pan / Makgadikgadi Salt Pans

The Makgadikgadi Pans are the exposed salt-flat remnants of ancient Lake Makgadikgadi, which research sources describe as having covered an area larger than Switzerland before drying up tens of thousands of years ago. During wetter climatic phases the pans are episodically refilled by rivers draining from far afield (sources note contributions from as far as central Angola), producing open water and seasonal grasslands; in drier phases the area appears as a highly reflective salt crust visible in MODIS and ISS imagery. Subsurface brines and evaporative processes have supported extraction of soda ash (sodium carbonate) and salt for export since the late twentieth century.