Which desert in southern Africa contains the Makgadikgadi Pan?

The desert in southern Africa that contains the Makgadikgadi Pan is the Kalahari Desert.

Makgadikgadi lies in northeastern Botswana, southeast of the Okavango Delta, within the broad Kalahari region. The name can be slightly misleading: it is not one simple flat pan, but a group of major salt pans, including Sua, Ntwetwe, and Nxai, with sandy desert between them. The wider Kalahari is a semi-arid sandy savanna spanning parts of Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa.

The pans are remnants of ancient Lake Makgadikgadi, which dried up thousands of years ago. During the dry season, their clay and salt surfaces appear stark and nearly lifeless. Rain transforms them, however, drawing zebra, wildebeest, birds, and large seasonal congregations of flamingos. The Nata and Boteti rivers provide important water inputs.

The Namib Desert is a frequent wrong choice because it is another famous southern African desert, but it lies mainly along the Atlantic coast. Makgadikgadi is an inland Kalahari landscape, not a Namib coastal one.