The Makgadikgadi Pan is a large salt pan in northern Botswana, the largest salt flat complex in the world. The Okavango river forms an inland delta, and in times past the river used to flood these pans in an area nearly 16000 square kilometres wide. An earthquake resulted in the river altering its path, leaving the inland delta dry and turning it into a salt pan. Kubu island is a rocky outcropping in the middle of this pan and while being totally devoid of light pollution, is also home to many Baobab trees, many of which form compelling foreground subjects for night scape photography…. Item # 7 on my bucket list and an itch long waiting to be scratched saw me touch ground at Kubu in September of 2023. The drive from Windhoek was long including a night spent at the border crossing thanks to a mix up of documents. Luck wasn’t on my side on the way back either, for the border post at Dobe closed well before its advertised time…..but all in all the spectacular location in the middle of nowhere made the efforts well worth it in the end. Seen here is a single one hour long exposure of the night sky. The tree was light painted using a 3200k light panel to bring out it's details.