The Makgadikgadi Pans Game Reserve – with an area of 3,900 sq. km – incorporates the western end of Ntwetwe, featuring extensive grasslands and acacia woodland. It meets the Nxai Pan National Park, separated by the Nata-Maun Road at its northern boundary.
This reserve offers good wildlife viewing in the wet season, particularly when great herds of zebra and wildebeest begin their westward migration to the Boteti region. Other species include gemsbok, eland and red hartebeest, kudu, bushbuck, duiker, giraffe, springbok, steenbok, and even elephant, with predators often trailing behind, waiting for an opportunity to strike. Patient game viewers may even spot the rare brown hyena.
Humans have inhabited areas of the pans since the Stone Age. They have adapted to geographical and climatic changes as they have occurred. Archaeological sites on the pans are rich with tools of ancient inhabitants of the region and the bones of the fish and animals they ate. Human inhabitation has continued to the present day. Several villages, including Mopipi, Mmatshumo, Nata, Gweta and Rakops, are situated on the pans' fringes.
