by LaurelC-19, 28 December 2009

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One night in Botswana, we drove out to the middle of absolutely nowhere to the famous salt flats. It is called the Makgadikgadi Pan, the remnants of a long-vanished lake. While the salt flats in Bolivia are the world's single largest, this one is the world's largest complex of salt flats. The salt was not as piercingly white as Bolivia’s, and nor were there the cool hexagon-shaped lines in the cracked ground. But what was most stunning here was that all around, all 360 degrees of your view, was just white salt. The Makgadikgadi was a place where you could perfectly understand why people once thought the earth was flat, because after all, with white nothingness stretched out in front of you as far as you can see no matter in which direction you spun--it simply looked like one huge flat disc.

After driving at dizzying speeds and yet not having any points for comparison for distance traversed, we arrived to our campsite in time for sunset. It was incredible. On one end of the big flat earth was complete darkness, the stars twinkling. And on the other end was the sun setting, the sky burning. All that could be seen were only salt, and a sky of half-day and half-night. With nothing else to do, we played tag, which is rather tricky in a land of nothingness.

When we were sufficiently bored and/or tired, we were provided with amazing roll-up beds that would just unzip and be just as comfy as any bed back home, and we dragged them out to as far as we could walk. Deciding to distance myself from the pack, I walked alone as far as I reasonably could. I enjoyed a night to myself where I could see no one and nothing, and where the moon was bright enough for me to write in my journal by mere moonlight. It was an incredible feeling of solitude--but a unique, comforting one in that I knew there was nothing, not a living being or a man-made thing, within a mile radius. I was surrounded by nature but yet the most raw, basic landscape nature could offer, so mind-blowingly simple that it’s counterintuitive to think it’s completely natural. In the morning I had possibly the most confusing wake up ever: opening my eyes to a blinding sunrise and just… a sea of white. For a split-second I thought: Hmm… Heaven…

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Please click here to read :
Part 1 - Laurel on NAMIBIA
Part 2 - Laurel on Uganda
Part 3 - Laurel on Rwanda
LaurelC-19's Wanderings on Planet Earth: Kachumbe
LaurelC-19's Wanderings on Planet Earth: Mozambique
LaurelC-19's Wanderings on Planet Earth: An Encounter in Tanzania