Generally considered the gateway to the Makgadikgadi Pans Gweta derived
its name from the sound of croaking bullfrogs which bury themselves in
the sand until the rainy season arrives and they emerge to mate.
The
huge expanse of the Makgadikgadi Pans is bigger than Switzerland. Once a
large river-fed lake, the Makgadikgadi Pans now lie saline and empty.
The pans are littered with stone tools and artefacts dated from between
2,000 to 500,000 years old! During the wet season 35-75,000 zebra and
wildebeest migrate into the area with regular sightings of lion, cheetah
and other predators who follow in their wake. The zebra and wildebeest
migration across the pans is southern Africa�s last surviving zebra and
wildebeest migration and the second largest in the world. Hundreds of
thousands of flamingo also appear to feed as long as the water lasts.
The pans are also a permanent haven for desert species such as the
meerkat and the elusive brown hyaena, the third rarest carnivore in the
world.
In the area around Gweta are national monuments in the form of
baobabs, which are not actually trees but the largest succulents in the
world. Greens Baobab, 27 km south of Gweta was inscribed by the
19th-century hunters and traders Joseph Green and Hendrik Matthys van
Zyl as well as other ruthless characters.
About 11 km further south
of Green's Baobab is the turn-off to the far more impressive Chapman's
Baobab, which has a circumference of 25m and was historically used as a
navigation beacon. It was also used as an early post office by passing
explorers, traders and travellers, many of whom left inscriptions on its
trunk
