12 Iconic Landscapes Only Found in Africa's Remote Corners

7. Makgadikgadi Pans, Botswana: Surreal Salt Flats

In the heart of Botswana, the Makgadikgadi Pans spread across thousands of square miles—a blinding white expanse that marks one of the world’s largest salt flat systems. These are the remnants of an ancient superlake, now transformed into a lunar-like plain where the sky feels impossibly vast. The dry season lends an eerie silence, broken only by the crunch of salt underfoot and the rustling of occasional baobab trees, some centuries old. Seasonal rains flood parts of the pans, drawing spectacular migrations of zebra and wildebeest in pursuit of fresh grazing. Northern sections hide archaeological traces of Stone Age hunting camps. Most travelers encounter the pans with a sense of quiet awe, especially at sunrise or beneath swarms of migrating flamingos. For solitude, reflection, and encounters with Botswana’s enduring wilderness, Makgadikgadi is peerless.