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WORDS: KAONE MOTHIBI
PICTURE: PHILLIP MODISE
Salt pans, affectionately known as “Lubu” by people of the Kgalagadi region in the Southwestern part of Botswana, remain a mystery to many who come across them, despite them being a common site in the region. Salt pans are a geographical phenomenon that is formed as natural lakes dry up over thousands of years leaving behind salt and minerals, giving these pans their characteristic white glow. Salt pans to the inhabitants of the Kgalagadi region are not only a symbolic geographical feature but have been pivotal to the way of life of these peoples for thousands of years.
It takes a short drive around this region to discern a pattern of human settlement that in itself shows the significance of salt pans in this region. Most villages and settlements are located on the periphery of these majestic landmarks. This is because for thousands of
years salt pans have been an irregular but vital source of water in the often parched desert plains. The little rainwater that collects in these natural basins was used to water cattle and for homestead use. However increasing human and livestock populations required a more reliable source of water henceforth people dug out boreholes and dams in rock formations that are often part of salt pans, these aggregation of boreholes are to this day known as Lecha (singular) or Macha (Plural). Thus the demand for water was for a time sufferable and thus enabling permanent human settlement in the unforgiving desert plains. Salt pans bear an attestement to the way the environment has an all-encompassing bearing on human evolution and development and thus henceforth the need to preserve and conserve it for future generations.
