Sowa Town

Sowa Town is a small planned town in north-central Botswana, set on the edge of the vast Sua Pan within the Makgadikgadi salt pans. Built around soda ash and salt mining, it is sometimes called Botswana's salt capital, and its orderly grid streets and remote desert setting give it a distinctive industrial character. The town is compact, quiet and closely tied to the surrounding landscape rather than to big-city tourism.

The town was established in 1991 by an act of Parliament to support commercial soda ash extraction from Sua Pan, and the mine opened the same year. Today the operation is run by Botswana Ash, and mining remains central to the local economy. This purpose-built heritage explains the town's planned layout and practical, working atmosphere.

For visitors, Sowa Town serves as a base for exploring the Makgadikgadi Pans, including Sua Pan, Nata Bird Sanctuary and Kubu Island, where baobabs and ancient stone walls rise from the salt crust. After seasonal rains the pans fill with shallow water and attract large flocks of greater and lesser flamingos, while the dry season allows quad biking, guided excursions and striking star-gazing under open skies.

Facilities in the town are limited, so most travellers arrive self-sufficient or with a guided itinerary. Francistown, about 160 km to the southeast, is the nearest major urban centre, and the town sits roughly 20 km from the Francistown–Maun road, making it a useful stop on overland routes toward northern Botswana and the Okavango.