Planning a trip to Botswana for two years builds up massive expectations, but nothing quite prepares you for standing in the middle of the bush while a wild meerkat uses your head as its personal lookout tower.
While my husband and kids are hardcore, dedicated “birders” who can happily sit in a stationary vehicle for hours scanning distant treetops, I’d classify myself as a light observer. I needed to ensure we had a few active, up-close encounters on our itinerary!
Journey to the Makgadikgadi Pans
One of these excursions started at Planet Baobab. It’s a fantastic stopover spot where we spent a relaxing morning reading by the pool before our guide picked us up in an open 4×4 safari vehicle.
After about an hour’s drive into the Makgadikgadi salt pans, we met up with Shephard, a dedicated tracker who spends up to 10 hours a day with the local meerkat mob. Because of his constant presence, the meerkats are habituated—they aren’t tame, but they completely ignore human presence as they go about their daily routine.
It was an experience to share a moment in time with this mob of at least 30 meerkats searching for insects, worms and (apparently a delicacy) scorpions!
3 Things we’ve learned from the Meerkat mob
- Teenagers do all the heavy lifting: Meerkat parents aren’t winning any parenting awards! The adults mostly relax while the teenage siblings are tasked with babysitting, feeding, and raising the youngest pups.
- Your head is a VIP viewing tower: To a meerkat, a sitting human is just a very convenient, tall termite mound. They’ll gladly climb right up your back—you can feel the tiny, delicate pressure of their paws gripping onto your shoulders—and balance on your head to get a higher vantage point for predator scanning.
- The drama is very real: While we were walking with them, one tiny pup started crying hysterically. I panicked, thinking someone had accidentally stepped on its foot! But Shephard laughed and explained the pup was just throwing a full-blown tantrum because it couldn’t find a bug. Moments later, a teenage sister rushed over and helped the baby dig up a massive, hideous yellow worm.
Getting to sit on the dusty ground and watch their world unfold around us was easily one of the absolute highlights of our trip, and such a privilege to experience.
👣Travel Tips
- Location: Planet Baobab / Makgadikgadi Pans, Botswana
- Best Time to Visit: Early mornings or late afternoons, when the meerkats emerge from their burrows to forage and warm up in the sun. During the peak rainy season months of January and February heavy downpours make tracking and viewing difficult.
- What to Pack: Camera with a zoom lens, a hat (great perching ground for meerkats!), and neutral-colored, dust-friendly clothing.
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