Nxai Pan National Park
Nxai Pan is a national park in Botswana. The park is located in northern Botswana in the southeastern part of the North West District north of the Makgadikgadi salt marsh. It has an area of 2,578 km². It is occupied by forests, savannah and extensive areas of grasslands. Also within the park are two drainless depressions that were once part of Makgadikgadi, which began to dry up about 10,000 years ago – Nhai Pan and Kgama-Kgama Pan. South of Nhai Pan is the country’s other national park, Makgadikgadi.
General Information
In 1970, Nhai Pan was given the status of a nature reserve and since 1992 it has been a national park. After being granted national park status, the area of Nhai Pan was increased from 1,676 km² by the addition of the Baobabs of Baines.
The park is most attractive to visit from November to April, during the rainy season, due to the abundance of vegetation, migratory birds, herds of herbivores and predators. However, traveling through the park during the rainy season becomes problematic due to washed out clay roads. The rest of the year, from May through October, is the beginning of the dry season, with temperatures over 40 degrees and dry air. At this time, most of the park’s reservoirs dry up and animals congregate at the artificial watering hole.
.Flora
Vegetation is represented by meadows of short grasses that provide food for gazelles and antelopes. Of the trees, besides baobabs, Acacia twining and other Acaciaceae, Combretum, Ochna beautiful, coffee trees, terminalia, Dichrostachys bluestem, Tarchonanthus camphor and others are common. In addition, a large number of various wildflowers during the rainy season.
.One of the main attractions of the park is Bynes’ Baobabs, a large baobab forest named after Thomas Bynes, who captured these trees in his painting. The baobabs grow 30 kilometers from the park gate. Bynes was an explorer, artist, naturalist and cartographer. Between 1861 and 1863, he and James Chapman passed through what is now the park during their two-year journey from Namibia to Victoria Falls..Fauna
Among the animals in Nhai Pan Park are antelopes, gazelles, zebras, gnu, oryx, kannas, lions, giraffes, kudu, jackals, and honeyeaters. Among the atypical for this area animals in the park there are congonis, big-eared foxes, brown hyenas, cheetahs, rhinoceroses. The avifauna of the park is very rich – more than 250 species of local and migratory birds, including ostriches, kestrels, grouse, red-billed grouse.
.Tourists
Within the park, 2 kilometers from the entrance gate, is the only tented camp for tourists, accommodating up to 18 guests. A canteen, library and souvenir store are located on the campground. The park can be accessed by road from Botswana’s capital city of Mauna, 138 kilometers from Nhai Pan. The nearest settlement is the village of Gweta, 104 km from the national park.
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