3-Day Makgadikgadi Salt Pans Safari with Open-Air Sleep-Out

3 Days Round trip from Maun Challenging pace

The journey

Trip highlights

01 Sleep directly on the ancient salt crust of the Ntwetwe Pan beneath an uninterrupted blanket of the Milky Way
02 Experience the eerie, heavy silence of the pans, where you can truly hear the quietness of the desert
03 Capture surreal horizon photography across the flat, blindingly white landscape with dramatic golden-hour silhouettes
04 Wake up with a completely wild, habituated meerkat colony as they emerge from their burrows
05 Ride a quad bike across miles of featureless salt, navigating a landscape that feels like the surface of the moon
06 Look for desert-adapted wildlife on game drives and visit historic giant baobabs such as Baines' Baobabs

A 3-day / 1-night Sleep-Out Makgadikgadi Salt Pans Safari gives you a comfortable transition pace out of Maun. Instead of rushing 4 hours out and back within 24 hours, you spend your first night in a traditional desert safari camp, head out for the legendary open-air pan sleep-out on night two, and return fresh on day three.

At a glance

What this trip includes

Duration 3 Days

Tour type Shared

Activity level Challenging

Accommodation Included · Budget

Transport Included

Wheelchair access No

Cities Maun, Gweta, Makgadikgadi Pan

Languages English

Day by day

The itinerary

Day 01

Maun to a Desert Safari Camp

Morning: Board a 4x4 open safari vehicle or take a light aircraft charter flight out of Maun toward the edge of the pans in the Gweta or Khumaga region.
Afternoon: Check into a classic thatched safari lodge or stationary tented camp. Head out on an afternoon game drive along the grasslands to look for desert elephants, bat-eared foxes, and birds.
Night: Enjoy dinner and a comfortable night's rest in a proper bed before heading out onto the stark flats.

Day 02

Quad Biking, Meerkats, and a Salt Pan Sleep-Out

Morning: Wake up for a guided walk with a habituated wild meerkat colony right as they emerge from their burrows to sun themselves.
Afternoon: Hop onto an ATV quad bike or an open-sided safari vehicle to venture directly out onto the featureless, blindingly white crust of the Ntwetwe Salt Pan.
Sunset: Sip sundowners as the sun sinks below the flat horizon, creating a perfect 360-degree sunset.
Night: Sleep under the Milky Way in a heavy canvas bedroll (swag) directly on the bare salt crust after a fire-cooked bush dinner.

Day 03

Sunrise on the Pans and Return to Maun

Sunrise: Watch the sunrise illuminate the desert horizon while sipping hot coffee.
Morning: Pack up your bedroll and travel back to the main camp, stopping to view historic, ancient baobab trees.
Afternoon: Drive back along the A3 highway, arriving back in Maun by late afternoon for your onward travel arrangements.

The route

Where you'll travel

Tour route map — Round trip from Maun 3 cities · 3 Days

The fine print

Trip details

What's Included

Mixed accommodation: 1 night at a fixed safari lodge or stationary tented camp (Night 1) and 1 night sleeping directly on the salt crust inside a heavy-duty canvas bedroll (swag) with a thick mattress, warm winter sheets, and heavy blankets (Night 2).
Round-trip transfers: Ground transport in an open 4x4 safari cruiser from your Maun hotel or airport out to the desert hub along the A3 highway and back.
Desert activities: A guided wild meerkat interaction walk at sunrise, a multi-hour quad-bike (ATV) or 4x4 trek onto the Ntwetwe Salt Pan, and land game drives along the park's grass fringes.
All daily meals: 2 breakfasts, 3 lunches, and 2 dinners, including a hot bush meal cooked over an open campfire on the pan crust.
Hydration: Unlimited bottled purified drinking water, plus morning coffee, tea, and juice at camp.
Expert field staff: Licensed professional land guides who navigate the featureless pans, track the moving meerkat colonies, and handle quad bike convoy safety.
National park and community permits: All entry fees for the Makgadikgadi Pans National Park and community conservation levies.

What's Not Included

Alcoholic beverages and sodas: Packages only cover water, tea, and coffee. You must buy your own beers, wines, spirits, or sodas at a bottle shop in Maun before departure. Your guide will provide a cooler box and ice to keep them cold.
Heavy winter clothing: The desert experiences massive temperature drops at night. Thick winter jackets, beanies, gloves, scarf wraps, and thermal base layers are strictly your responsibility to bring.
Personal flashlights and headlamps: There is zero electricity on the open salt crust to light the camp. You must bring your own headlamp or flashlight to navigate around your bedroll safely after dark.
Portable charging power banks: No charging stations are available on the pans or inside the mobile camps. You must bring high-capacity power banks to keep your phone and camera batteries alive.
Medical and evacuation travel insurance: Comprehensive medical insurance that explicitly covers remote, deep-wilderness emergency evacuation is mandatory and must be purchased independently before arriving in Botswana.
Staff tips and gratuities: Tipping your desert guide, quad-bike tracker, and camp cook is completely voluntary but highly customary. For a 3-day trip, a standard baseline is roughly $45-$60 USD total per guest for the staff pool.

What to bring

Pack a thick winter jacket or heavy fleece for the cold desert nights.
Bring thermal tops and bottoms to stay warm while sleeping outdoors.
Carry a beanie, gloves, and a scarf to protect yourself from the cold desert wind.
Pack 2-3 lightweight long-sleeve shirts in neutral colours such as khaki, tan, or grey.
Bring two pairs of breathable hiking pants that are comfortable for quad biking.
Wear sturdy closed-toe shoes or hiking boots with thick socks for walking on sand.
Pack a wide-brimmed sun hat with a chin strap for protection during quad bike rides.

Know before you go

The desert drop: While daytime temperatures on the pans are scorching, the open desert loses heat rapidly after dark.
Winter layers are mandatory: During the dry season (May to October), night temperatures on the open salt crust regularly plunge to 0°C to 5°C (32°F to 41°F), made colder by sharp desert winds. You must pack thermal underwear, a heavy winter jacket, a beanie, and gloves for night two.
A strict no-touching policy: While the wild meerkats are completely habituated to humans and will likely climb onto your shoulders or head to use you as a high lookout tower, you are strictly forbidden from touching, petting, or feeding them.
Stay completely still: Sit quietly in the sand and let them approach you. Sudden movements or loud talking will scare the colony back into their burrows.

Logistics