Out in the Wild: Running the 2026 Salt Pans Ultra

It's just past 5am and about 70 people have set off on foot through the darkness, straight towards the middle of the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans. This is not usually advised, due to the sweltering heat of September and the general disorientation of a flat and white landscape roughly the size of Switzerland, but it's the start of the 50km Salt Pans Ultra. It's the last of three races to start, following a 100km that started earlier and a 100-miler that started the previous day. 

Getting out onto the Pans I switch off my headlamp, confident in the fact that there is nothing to trip on, while I use my watch to navigate me in a northern direction towards the first aid station in the race. This is usually my favourite time as I can see a trail of lights ahead and behind me as I run through total darkness, only the soft crunching of the salt below my feet. Soon the sun starts to rise to my right, a brilliant pink colour rising above a dark flat landscape, and after enjoying the beauty of a Salt Pans sunrise I start to realise that the race is on... not against my fellow runners, but rather against the heat.

The Salt Pans Ultra was started four years ago by two adventure enthusiasts, Dale ter Haar and Stefan Ortwein, and set out to be the toughest flat-route ultra in the world. There are three distances to choose from, 50km, 100km and the latest addition - a 100-miler. While flat may sound easy, the difficulty comes in the monotony of running on the same surface, wind, mud and endless solitude, a race that is often underestimated by its participants. This really is like no other Ultra in the world — a bucket list run for sure.

This is the second year I am taking part. After struggling through 50km in 2025, I feel more prepared and a lot more relaxed in 2026. It's also the first year Okavango Brewing Company has come onboard as an official sponsor. In previous years we had sponsored the opening sundowner event, but this year we have had more presence as the official beer of the 2026 Salt Pans Ultra, supplying co-branded buffs and the bar of the race village. The Salt Pans Ultra embodies our motto of 'Brewed for the Wild' - an event across remote, untamed landscapes far from cities and crowds, where like-minded people come to test themselves. This is what our beer is made for.

For the brewery this event is not just about providing beer but supporting people connecting to the wild, so our team also joined the volunteers - a group of people who gave their time and energy to make the experience of crossing the Pans possible for someone else. And to them we are truly grateful, especially when you arrive at that last aid station and a group of hard-working, sleep-deprived people can reenergise me and keep one motivated to push through the last 12 km of your 50km, 100km or 100-mile journey.

It's these last 12 km where I usually start asking myself why I do this, as my running has turned into a run-walk situation. Punishingly, the finish line is in sight all 12 km due to the emptiness of the landscape but only starts to feel close within the final metres. The sun is at its highest at this point and the temperatures are soaring, and I pray for a small bit of wind to cool things off. My drinks have all turned warm, food is hard to stomach, and I start thinking about that ice cold Delta Lager after the finish line. It's a real mental battle to keep pushing through those final kilometres, a very strange feeling of knowing you are capable of running but not having the mental strength to keep going. You start thinking about hanging up the running shoes, asking why I didn't train more, how much can the human body handle, why have I run 51.8km when I only signed up for 50... then, over a final rise, it's suddenly real, roughly 100 metres away I can see the race village and hear the rattling cow-bell. As I cross that line I can't believe it's over... all that hard work, all that training... and while sipping on that ice cold Delta Lager I immediately think: where do I sign up for 2027 and who is joining me?

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