The wildlife of the pans varies dramatically depending on the season, which is why 4x4 excursions from the various camps can’t always be labelled as “game drives.” In the dry season there are little of the plains game herds that become abundant during the rains, and therefore very few predators around to take advantage of the rich pickings on offer. During this time, guests can still search for rarer, desert adapted wildlife, including guaranteed interaction with meerkats and the chance to search for brown hyena and aardwolf.

During the wetter months from roughly December to April, larger herds of wildlife arrive, most strikingly in the vast zebra and wildebeest migration that passes across the pans and heads west to the more permanent waters of the Boteti River. This draws good numbers of varied predators, with lions especially prominent. Wildlife during this time is excellent but usually still not comparable with the rich diversity of the Delta, Linyanti and Chobe areas. Nature drives will often therefore be as much concerned with the sensational landscapes, geological quirks and rich human history as with the animals.