When we wake up in the morning, the sky is grey. Being in Africa rain is not the first thing on our mind and we have our breakfast first before packing our tent. Wrong! Soon it starts raining and although it's only a gentle rain, it's enough to prevent us from packing our tent without a substantial amount of mud. Will it be raining on Eclipse Day as well?

Today we're heading for Nata, about 360 km from Kasane. Most of the route promises to be a monotonous stretch of tar, following the tracks of an early nineteenth century ivory route to the Zambezi, the Mpandamatanga trail. Only in the first part we might see some animals as the road borders Zimbabwe's Hwange NP. Suddenly Mick breaks and then at last we see the large herd of elephants we'd expected to see inside Chobe NP. We stop to give them the chance to cross the road.

It's a breeding herd. Shy at first, they finally decide that it's safe to cross but not after a lot of ear flapping to warn us to keep our distance. After half an hour, most of the herd has crossed to the other side but some are still reluctant to follow. Behind us a small convoy of military vehicles decide that they have waited long enough and they overtake us causing a lot of ear flapping and some trumpeting from the startled elephants. Then they gradually disappear in the bush. What a marvelous sight! Alas, the remaining part of the trip is indeed monotonous

Nata itself is just a small village and not our final destiny. We're heading for a campsite about 10 km south of Nata and situated close to Sua Pan. Sua Pan is one of several salt pans of which Makgadikgadi and Nxai Pans are the most famous. About 2 million years ago both the Okavango Delta and the Pans were part of an enormous lake. Al that's left now are sheer endless stretches of compact, smooth, grey clay surrounded by again endless stretches of grasslands. We do not enter deep into the Pans but already the sensations of infinity and silence are overwhelming.

Most of the year, the Pans are dry and game migrates to less arid parts of Botswana. In years with good rains, however, the areas near the old river mouths fill with a shallow layer of water and, though a far cry from times long gone, give an impression of the ancient lake that used to be here. Those years attract huge flocks of birds, particularly pelicans and flamingoes. But also ducks, geese, cranes and other waterfowl come to feast on algae and tiny shrimps that lie dormant in the dry mud until the rain brings them back to life again ().