Secret Safari: Kalahari Zebra Migration
With a pair of zebras adorning the national coat of arms and with a black and white stripe running through its flag, you could safely assume that the zebra occupies a special place in Botswana. Even their soccer team is named after it.

Following long-worn trails into the Kalahari, migrating zebras cast long shadows in the morning light.
The zebra, despite being somewhat overshadowed by the more sought-after Big Five, is perhaps, along with the giraffe, the quintessential African wildlife icon. After all, you can find lions and leopards and rhino and buffalo and elephant in Asian settings – but a black and white striped horse? Well, for that, you have to go to Africa. And if you want to see zebras in bigger numbers than you might think – in fact, if you want to see zebra herds rivalled only by those of East Africa’s mighty migration – then you need to go to Botswana’s Kalahari Desert.
The Kalahari is very different to the popular image of a desert. Most of Botswana’s Kalahari is grassland studded with thorn trees and flanked by woodlands. Ephemeral lakes and rivers – filled by summer rains – punctuate the landscape, and the air is filled with the snorts of antelope and the bass roar of the lion. And in the rainy summer season, the curious whistle-wheeze call of thousands of zebras.
There are two major zebra migrations in Botswana, triggered by the start of the rains at the end of the year. Moving from dry-season water (the Chobe River, the Okavango Delta), the zebra move south to the Kalahari where nutritious green grasses are now growing. Some zebra herds head for Nxai Pan but thousands more flood the rich grasslands of the Makgadikgadi Pans.
Their numbers peak between December and March as pregnant mares give birth, coinciding with the birthing season of many antelope species and the arrival of migratory birds, all of which makes it a great time of year to see predators in action: this is a land of lions and cheetahs, wild dogs, hyenas and leopards.
Unlike specialised desert animals, zebras need regular water and so many return to dry-season water sources as the rain dries up and the grasses turn brown. Some however remain by the more or less perennial Boteti River, offering visitors a unique opportunity to see large numbers of zebra during the Kalahari’s more comfortable dry season – between the beginning of June and the end of September.
It makes for amazing wildlife photography and visitors will be seeing a lot more than zebras. The Boteti River also attracts elephants and buffalo and the area is famous for the smaller Kalahari characters such as meerkats and honey badgers.
From the comfort of some of Botswana’s best lodges you will explore by 4X4 or on foot, accompanied by local San guides, and have the chance to sit back and gaze at some of the starriest night skies you will have ever seen. For the adventurer, several lodges offer the chance to ride the famous Makgadikgadi Pans on quad-bike – in fact, you can even camp on the pan for the ultimate sleep-out safari.