There is no permanent water in Botswana’s Makgadikgadi Pans. It is only seasonal rains that make the saltpans habitable for thousands of zebra. Zebra families on the saltpans are generally made up of a single stallion, mares, and their foals. Watch a scene from “Great Zebra Exodus.”
When the dry season begins, these families living in the saltpans start the long, hard migration west to the Boteti River for fresh drinking water. This map shows the migration path taken by the zebras from the Makgadikgadi Pans (A) to the Boteti River (B).