You set out in an open 4×4 for a three-hour game drive in Makgadikgadi Pans National Park, which covers over 5,000 square kilometres along the Boteti River. This part of the park does not include the large salt pans themselves; those lie in the wider Makgadikgadi area, which stretches to more than 12,000 square kilometres. During the drive, you focus on wildlife that lives along the river and in the surrounding dry landscapes, including gemsbok, red hartebeest, brown hyenas, and Kalahari lions. Your guide also explains how the Boteti River supports animals in an area where water is limited for most of the year. If you want to visit salt pans such as Ntwetwe or Sowa, you generally need to book extra days, as the journey is too long to combine with a game drive from the Boteti River.