Day 7 – Makgadikgadi Salt Pans

The forest on the border of the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans looks like it’s ready to burn itself. 

The trees are bare and brittle and starved of water. Smaller twigs stick out of the ground at the base of the trees, and tangled in the twigs are piles of dry leaves that seem as though they were swept in place. 

The entire combination looks like a fire kit for camping amateurs, prepared by the locals, matches not included. But this is not human intervention; it is nature at its most efficient. 

When the rain falls, and it will, the entangled leaves will break down further and enrich the soil for the trees next growing season. Humans can take no credit for this process, though in Botswana and around the world there are examples of ways we continue to try to control nature. In Botswana, there is perhaps no greater example of that than the efforts to preserve the cattle industry. The animals are one of the countries greatest consumers of water. 

Today we explore cattle through the eyes of those who attempt to control it.